Identifying Marketing Limitations to Rural Organic Products (Case Study: Villages around Lake Hamoon, Sistan)

Introduction Organic products play an important role in the health of the people as well as in improving the livelihood of rural households. An example of this can be seen around Hamoon Lake in the Sistan region. Located in desert areas of Iran, this region, apart from drying lake water, has been witnessing serious crisis with major impact on agricultural and livelihood of the people. However, the locals, based on their limited knowledge, have been able to turn this dilemma into opportunity and have the best use of the lake's waterless land. Each year, a large area there is devoted to the organic production of melon, which is unique not only in Iran but perhaps in the world. However, these rural farmers seem to be confronting with limitation on the sale and marketing of their products. Accordingly, it is necessary to carry out an investigation into the identification of marketing restrictions for the organic product of the lake.   Materials and Methods The present study applies a descriptive-survey method to reach its target. Apart from library and documentary studies, a field research and surveys (through questionnaire and interviews) were done to collect the data. The statistical population consists of 12 villages with agricultural activities around Lake Hamoon. To analyze, one-sample T-test was done with SPSS software, Fuzzy Hierarchy Analysis (FAHP), Gray Grade Analytical Method (GRA). The FAHP SOLVER 2014 software was used to perform paired comparisons, hierarchy, and weights calculation in the fuzzy hierarchy process.   Results and Discussion In Sistan, farmers have long been relying on their local knowledge for organic cultivation around Lake Hamoon. In this type of cultivation, they not only avoid using toxic materials, fertilizer, and even irrigation, but production costs are very low as well. In the process, the farmers dig   cultivating the dry bed of Hamoon (15 -50cm), then sow seeds in the bottom of the pit and feed them with muddy lake. Despite its numerous benefits, there are constraints for marketing and sales of this product. Accordingly, a research on identifying and prioritizing those constraints was essential. A range of indices and components related to the constraints were identified. Some of the marketing limitations of this product were found to be policy, infrastructure and technical. Based on the results of a single sample T test, there were policy barrier with an average (3.35%) as the most important factor followed by the infrastructural barrier (with an average 3.8%). The technical (with an average 2.60%) is considered to be the least important limitation of marketing. Bachelor's Questionnaire showed the similar results. Based on the analytic hierarchy, policy barrier with a coefficient of 0.51%, infrastructural barrier with a coefficient of 0.40%, and technical barrier with a coefficient of 0.9%, ranked first, second and third, respectively.   Conclusion The outcome of the study shows that factors such as the presence of intermediaries and brokers, gap between farm and market prices, lack of government support for organic production, lack of capital for product promotion, lack of storage facilities and product corruption, and failure to identify target livelihoods were the basic constraints on marketing of organic product from Lake Hamoon. It calls for the government and the authorities responsible for rural development and agriculture in the region, to address those constraints in order to expand and help farmers produce more organic melon.