Identification of challenges facing development of the medicinal plants sector in Iran

There is a crucial need for a scientific view of the field of management and the problems in the medicinal plants’ sector and also a comprehensive study to explore challenges facing the development of this sector. The present study, with a quantitative orientation and using a descriptive–survey method, aimed at identifying challenges facing the development of the medicinal plants’ sector in Iran. The statistical population of the study consisted of experts in the field of medicinal plants and people working in its different parts, 151 of which participated in the study through a purposive sampling method. A researcher -made questionnaire was used as the main research tool to evaluate the two levels of the current situation and the desired situation. The KMO index and Bartlett’s test were used to examine the validity of the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was approved by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The results showed that social, economic, human resources and technological, managerial, market and marketing, and environmental factors had the greatest impact on the lack of desirable development of the medicinal plants' sector in Iran, respectively. From the point of view of the respondents, inefficiency and inadequate insurance coverage is the most important challenge for the development of this sector, and the main gap with the desirable situation is arising from limited, inefficiency, and non-targeted subsidies to support production. So, it is recommended to adopt supportive policies such as granting targeted subsidies, tax exemptions for processing and science-based units, various policies to reduce the cost of products with the active participation of producers, and those involved in the planning process for medicinal plants.