Prioritizing the Development of Agricultural Conversion and Complementary Industries in Ahar County

Aims: Agricultural industrialization is an important breakthrough to the development of county economy and to the promotion of urbanization. The main aim of the current research is to prioritize the development of conversion and complementary industries in agricultural sector as well as exploring the barriers of creating these industries.

Methodology: We used Delphi method to collect and analyze the expert comments for prioritizing the development of agricultural conversion and complementary industries in Ahar county, Iran. The agricultural experts were selected among experts of Jihad Agriculture Organization and Ahar Municipality as well as academic stuff of Tabriz and Ahar in the field of agriculture. Totally, 20 persons have been selected to fill the questionnaires. We have provided two different kind of questionnaires; the aims of conversion and complementary industries were listed in the first questionnaire to determine their importance values. The second questionnaire has been arranged based on obtained results from the first questionnaire which was consisted of a list of creatable conversion and complementary industries. Selected persons prioritized these alternatives based on Delphi method.

Results: The results showed that increase in income of local farmers and value added and productivity of agricultural products are the most and the least important aims, respectively. Also, first and last priorities for suggested industries were providing of dairy production and roasting of beans such as lentil and grains such as wheat, respectively.

Conclusion: Based on the results, it is expected that the authorities and those in charge to encourage and attract investors to invest in the construction of more processing and conversion industries for agricultural, horticulture and livestock products.