delphi technique

The most basic goal of cooperative companies of any type is to improve the economic status of the members of these companies. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the cooperatives of the country have grown tremendously physically and have provided the necessary grounds for the participation of the general public in various economic and social matters. State economic inadequacies and harmful consequences of the private economy make it necessary to pay more attention to cooperatives. In this research, upstream document analysis using the document analysis method has been used to determine the investment priorities of the city's development and construction cooperative companies. Then, according to the interviews conducted with the members of the development and construction cooperative companies of Rasht city, the cooperative organization, work and social welfare, the management of statistics and information, and the management and planning organization of Gilan province, the governor and prefect of the city, experts A university active in the field of Gilanology, investment opportunities were identified separately and analyzed using the document analysis technique and ranked using the Delphi technique. In the following, according to the output of the Delphi technique in line with strategic analysis, using the parental strategy, the priority of each of the identified projects of Rasht city is determined and the position of each of them according to the key success factors and cooperative capabilities in the matrix. Placement parents and necessary implementation suggestions have been provided.

Irrigation network is a set of hydraulic channels and related structures that is created with the aim of transferring, distributing and delivering water fairly as well as efficiently. However, due to constraints resulting from type of management and maintenance, climate changes, social and cultural characteristics of users, and financial issues, their performance are usually faced with major challenges. Qazvin irrigation network is one of the modern networks in the country and after more than 40 years of implementation of this network, many problems and challenges in the field of agricultural water management are observed in this network. The purpose of the present research is to identify the important challenges in the field of agricultural water management in Qazvin plain irrigation network, to investigate the importance of challenges and performance in relation to the challenges, and finally to provide practical strategies to improve the state of the system with a new approach by using Importance-Performance Analysis technique. The method of conducting the study to identify the challenges has been library studies and then using Delphi technique. Furthermore, the importance of the challenges has been identified by using Best-Worst method. Evaluating the responce of the officials authorities  to the challenges using Importance-Performance Analysis technique, demonstrates that the challenges of lack of enough motivation in farmers to reduce agriculture water consumption, lack of governmental supports for established organizations, lack of supervision on implementation of crop patterns and cultivation area, budget issues, and lack of sufficient training for farmers, in ordre are five challenges in the first quadrant of the importance-performance matrix that should be prioritized for improvement. Several practical solutions to solve the challenges for Qazvin plain irrigation network such as doing more support from government in terms of using suitable irrigation methoed while considering the approved crop pattern and providing clear information for the statue of current situation and making coordination among all types of involved sectors are presented in the results section.

In recent years, researchers have studied the factors affecting the performance of agricultural businesses and have identified entrepreneurial marketing as one of the new approaches and innovative solutions to maintain the survival and increase the income of this Businesses have introduced. In this regard, the current integrated research (qualitative-quantitative) was conducted with the aim of identifying and classifying the determinants of entrepreneurial marketing among gardeners in Kermanshah city based on the three-pronged model.

In terms of the general paradigm, the present research is of the type of integrated studies (qualitative-quantitative) and in terms of the purpose, it is considered to be of the type of applied studies. In the qualitative part, which was conducted with the aim of identifying and classifying the determinants of entrepreneurial marketing among gardeners in Kermanshah city based on the three-pronged model, the Delphi method was used. The community studied in this section included 16 experienced gardeners and 14 experts and horticultural specialists active in Kermanshah city. In this part of the study, in-depth individual interviews and focused group discussions were used to collect data. In the quantitative part, which was carried out with the aim of validating the entrepreneurial marketing model among gardeners in Kermanshah city, the descriptive-correlation method with the partial least squares approach (Smart PLS) was used. The statistical population in the quantitative part was all the users of the horticulture department of Kermanshah (N=3362) who were selected for the study by using the stratified sampling method and proportional assignment and using the Karjesi and Morgan table. SPSS and Smart PLS software used to analyze the data in two sections of descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results of the Delphi study led to the extraction of 28 items effective on entrepreneurial marketing among gardeners in Kermanshah city, and further, using the three-pronged model, these items were divided into three classes: behavioral factors (9 items), structural factors (7). item) and background factors (12 items) were classified. The results of the quantitative part of the study showed that the status of behavioral and contextual factors among the gardeners of Kermanshah city was lower than the average level, and the status of the structural factor was slightly higher than the average level. Also, the findings of the study indicated that gardeners in Kermanshah had average entrepreneurial marketing skills. Finally, the findings of the structural equation modeling section indicated that about 89% of entrepreneurial marketing changes are explained by the items identified in the research in the form of three-pronged factors (behavioral, structural and contextual).

Improving the state of entrepreneurial marketing among gardeners in Kermanshah requires planning and special attention of officials and planners to behavioral, contextual and structural factors, based on the findings of this study; suggestions have been made to achieve this goal.

Given the fact that one of the main limitations of growth and development of Iran's agriculture sector is 'capital', this study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the facilities granted to projects to improve and increase the livestock and poultry production in Razavi Khorasan province of Iran. For this purpose, the concerned criteria were identified by Delphi technique and using the structural equation technique, the impact of effective factors on the effectiveness of the facilities granted to the projects was measured. The combined index of the effectiveness of the facilities granted to the plans for improving and increasing livestock and poultry productions were almost moderate, estimating 48.9 and 47.3 percent, respectively. Among the effectiveness indicators of the facilities granted to the plan to improve and increase livestock production, the indicators of 'improving milk quality', 'increasing conversion ratio and added value of milk production' and 'increasing conversion ratio and added value of red meat production' and among the effectiveness indicators of the facilities granted to the plan to improve and increase poultry production, the indicators of 'improving egg quality', 'increasing conversion ratio and value added of egg production' and 'increasing conversion ratio and value added of chicken meat production' had the least effectiveness. In general, the facilities granted to the beneficiaries of the above plan during the studied period in Razavi Khorasan province were not effective due to various factors such as unfavorable economic conditions in the period under review, changes in laws and regulations, frost, drought and finally, the lack of support and assistance of the banking system. Therefore, it was suggested to the authoriries of the agriculture sector to create a balance between the return and the interest rate of repayment, the assistance of the banks with the loss-bearing beneficiaries and especially, the development of agricultural insurance.

The formation and expansion of rural cooperative companies is one of the most important policies and strategies for the development of the agricultural sector and the rural society of Iran in the last half century. Therefore, considering the role that rural cooperative companies can have in this regard, the present research was conducted with the aim of identifying the barriers to the development of rural cooperative companies in Urmia city. This research is applied in terms of purpose and analytical-exploratory in terms of methodology and has a qualitative-quantitative approach. The statistical population consisted of two groups. The first group was experts and experts in rural cooperative affairs, which was conducted with 15 people using a targeted sampling method. The second group of managers and members of the board of directors of rural cooperative companies in Urmia city in 2021 were 120 people, and due to the limited statistical population, the census method was used to collect information. Collecting and collecting data and information was done in the form of documents and field. Data analysis was done using exploratory factor analysis technique and with the help of Spss22 software. The results of the research showed that the barriers to the development of rural cooperative companies in Urmia city were classified in the form of seven social-cultural factors, structural, economic, managerial, political, organizational-supportive and service characteristics, and the first factor is called cultural. - Social and by explaining 11.41% of the variance changes, it was introduced as the most important factor, which is the low professional knowledge of the cooperative members, the differences in the amount of members and cooperative elements, the low spirit of responsibility among the cooperative members, including The variables located in this factor were Based on the obtained results, the problems summarized in seven factors explained about 62% of the total variance changes. According to the results of the research, it is suggested to raise the awareness of the members through holding empowerment workshops regarding the nature and function of cooperatives, principled and realistic planning based on the needs of cooperatives .

Traditional agriculture is no longer able to provide sustainable, safe, and nutritious food for a planet with a population of more than 9 billion by 2050. This has led researchers to study about modern agriculture and its related factors. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of presenting an adoption model of IoT in the agricultural sector.

Indicators and factors affecting the implementation of IoT in the agricultural sector were extracted in two stages. Using content analysis, researches related to IoT in the agricultural sector was reviewed in the first stage. In the next stage, effective indicators on the adoption of IoT in the agricultural sector were extracted by Delphi technique and a survey of 15 experts whom were purposefully selected using snowball method.

The research findings showed that 63 indicators in the form of 11 categories and 4 dimentions are effective in adoption of IoT in the agricultural sector. Key concepts include environmental, technological, economic, and socio-cultural factors; sub-categories include cost factors, financial incentives, revenue factors, organizational factors, laws and policies, agricultural and ecological factors, technology infrastructure, security factors, IoT capabilities and features, human factors, and cultur-building.

It can be said that in order to adopt IoT in the agricultural sector, changes and reforms in all four main concepts including environmental, technological, economic, and socio-cultural factors seem necessary. In this regard, it is suggested to government to create laws supporting privacy and data ownership as well as to modify and revise the agricultural sector productivity law emphazing on the implementation of IoT technology. Also, providing cooperation between academic agriculture and information technology experts, developing knowledge-based companies in the field of IoT in agricultural sector, and creating an academic field of IoT are recommended.

Agribusinesses that follow conventional approach, due to overuse of off-farm inputs threaten ecosystem services, environmental health and human life. Insisting on the continuation of these type of businesses will threaten the sustainable livelihoods of the rural population, as well as the lives and health of consumers. Therefore, to deal with these threats, the creation and development of organic production businesses is an inevitable necessity.The present study sought to first identify and prioritize the challenges of creating and developing organic wheat production business and then introduce appropriate solutions to remove these obstacles and challenges.

The present study used the Delphi technique to identify and prioritize the barriers and solutions of the creation and development of organic wheat production business. Using snowball sampling, 21 Agriculture-Jahad specialists of Markazi province were selected to participate in two rounds of Delphi technique. The data from the semi-structured interview of the first round were coded using the content analysis and then were compiled as a Likert scale and again provided to the experts for scoring. The coefficient of variation was used to end the Delphi technique and the normalized weight index was used to prioritize the variables.

The results revealed that lack of initial capital, lack of government support for organic wheat production due to the dominance of self-sufficiency policy, improper marketing, insufficient knowledge and skills and low motivation along with long period of transition and lack of insurance coverageas were the most important challenges respectively and the formation of a wheat growers’ cooperative, the payment of low-interest facilities, training and extension, crop insurance and guaranteed purchase along with supplying inputs were the most important solutions respectively.

In short, in this study an economic challenge i.e. insufficient initial capital has been introduced as the first and most important obstacle for creating and developing the organic wheat production business and a policy issue i.e., lack of government support for organic wheat production due to the dominance of self-sufficiency policy has been introduced as the second important obstacle. Other challenges, namely marketing, cognitive and psychological problems, are overshadowed by these two challenges and are in the next ranks. The interesting thing is that given the challenges, a social action, i.e., organizing wheat farmers in the form of a production cooperative, has been introduced as the first and most important solution to address the challenges and reduce their adverse effects. So that other measures such as payment of facilities, holding training and extension courses, insurance, guaranteed purchase of the products and supply of inputs within it and through it will be facilitated, accelerated and implemented.

The aim of the present study is to design a process model developing the market for agricultural organic products in Iran. The statistical population of the study consisted of experts in the organic sector of the country.19 participants were interviewed by a semi-structured interview. For identification and classification of the development stages, the Sequential Exploratory strategy was applied. The factors influencing the development of the market for organic products, identified by the content analysis of the interviews were examined and validated using the Delphi qualitative method. Afterward, to determine the level of identifying steps, the internal relations between them and designing the process model, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was applied. Obtained results indicate that the process model for developing the market for organic products with the analysis of the status quo starts with determining the goals and the prospect and end with increasing the consumption and market’s capacity building. The present model can be applied as a guide by policymakers and all organic stakeholders in various research sectors, as well as, planning and applying.

Non-implementing of forestry plans across Hyrcanian region in Iran has been one of the one of the important major decisions of forest management sector in recent years. This study was carried out to investigate implementing or non-implementing of forestry plan in the Babol Roud, Mazandaran province. Furthermore, Cochran's relationship was used to determine the number of respondents, whereas Delphi technique was used to adjust questionnaires, which were distributed among 32 people (16 local communities and 16 forestry plan’s staff) for subsequent SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis was used to analyze the opinions of stakeholders, the process of receiving feedback was purposefully performed. Then, their comments were tested and analyzed. The results of the SWOT evaluation matrix showed that the statistical community demands an aggressive strategy to implement the forestry plan and a defensive strategy in case of its non-implementation. The most important strength of implementing the forestry plan were identified as survival guarantee of the tree stands, whereas non-implementation was assessed to be associated with non-intensive harvest beyond forest capacity. In contrast, the most significant weaknesses were identified as soil and existing hydrological system degradation as well as intense forest invasion (wood smuggling, land use change), respectively. Overall, results generally indicated that in both methods the most majority of the statistical community in the study opposed stopping forestry plans which resulted in ongoing and upcoming economic and environmental problems. Likewise, the major revision of forestry plans’ current condition along with their codification and using alternative management strategies were suggested in order to comprehensively meet the beneficiary needs.

Water is one of the important factors in agricultural sector and as the crucial factor of development and sustainability in agriculture, but nowadays water is limiter factor in this sector. Since the agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water, managing and increasing water efficiency is the most effective way to use the available water resources in this sector optimally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the various challenges and requirements in water management in Mazandaran province. The data of this qualitative study were collected using Delphi technique to reach group consensus. The population of the study consisted of 23 specialists in irrigation of agricultural. The study was conducted in three phases that finally presented 29 challenges and 24 requirements by experts. After eliminating the items with less than 80% agreement, there were 17 challenges and 17 requirements. The most important challenges included not choosing a suitable cropping pattern for each region and not using modern irrigation systems and most important requirements. These included were the use of agricultural mechanization and modern methods of irrigation and the role of agriculture education and extension.

This study aimed to determine the challenges of DCPBR (Distribution of Cooperatives Provision Business Requirements). The research has been implemented in two steps. In the first step, the research conceptual framework were extracted by reviewing of the relevant documents. In the second step, by using Delphi technique the challenges of DCPBR were extracted. The respondents of this part were the managing directors of successful DCPBR and experts in the country who were selected by purposive sampling method. The output of the second step were 38 challenges that were categorized under "cooperation and coordination", "governmental supports", "policy- making", "rules and regulations", "competition", "participation", "performance appraisal and reward", "technology", "public making culture", "marketing", "the ability of the management team" and" research and development”. Finally, with paying attention to the extracted challenges some solutions were presented for removing these challenges.

Decreases of the qulity of ground waters is due to wasteful harvest of this water resource, which needs to identify the suitable places for ground water extraction for drink pourposes. The aim of current research was to identify the suitable places for ground water extraction in Roshtkhar plain using the Delphi and Topsis methods. In Delphi method the weight of criterias and sub- criterias, and multiplied in their raster layers and therefore the final map was extracted. In Topsis method by using decision-making matrix, the sub inderces were specified and then by ranking the selected sub-criterias carried out. Criterias included water, catchment physiography, geology, economic and social criterion, and sub-criterias included the quality and quantity of water, transmission coefficient, alluvium thickness, distance from the road, distance from power transmission lines, distance from the city and villages, slope of basin and geological formations of the region. The result of comparison of two methods showed that there is no meaningful different in result in the present areas, because the calculated Chi-Square ( 12χ2"> ) was 97.5 which is lower than the Chi of table. So by taking attention to the final map of Roshtkhar plain aquifer, the aptitude of aquifer was classified in five classes included very good, good, average, weak and non-suitable. In Delphi method, the 37.07 percent of area was very good and good, and in Topsis method the 35.27 percent of area which placed in the west of plain were good and very good and in the weast of aquifer has non-suitable extraction situation.

Degradation and over exploitation of natural resources is the most important constraints to sustainable development in many developing countries. Looking at the destruction Facts and figures of range lands, forests, soil erosion and water loss in our country represents numerous challenges in this field. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the current challenges of watershed management in the country. The population for this study consisted of natural resources management experts in the throughout country that had sufficient knowledge and experience. Delphi results, which were conducted in three rounds, showed that the most important challenges of watershed management for the country included: multiplicity of decision centers, lack of external organizational coordination, lack of real participation of stakeholders in designing and implementation of projects and disregarding economic-social studies that had high averages, respectively. Extracted challenges were classified in various categories included: Management challenges, policy-making, research and informing, participation and social justice and economic challenges. Based on the identified challenges, we conclude that watershed management in Iran lacks integrated approach. Therefore, implementation of integrated management is essential to sustainable watershed management.

Many agricultural and natural resources higher education institutions, because of the need to farmlands, greenhouses and laboratories are located outside the cities, away from the confines of their main centers (academic affiliated educational centers). This trend, despite having some of the above benefits, has been caused dissatisfaction and consequently decrease the interest and desire of the faculty members, staff and some students for choice to work and study in such centers. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to analyze strategies towards distant place of agriculture and natural resources higher education institutions from the academic affiliated educational centers. This applied descriptive research in terms of research methodology paradigm is a qualitative inquiry, was conducted using a classic Delphi technique. The research sample whose were chosen by purposive sampling method are faculty members and Ph.D. students with agriculture and natural resources majors that somehow are involved with outlying from their main academic centers. In this way, the most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were known as perceived by respondents and at the end all four rates averages were calculated with SWOT analysis matrix. The resultant SWOT matrix analysis is located in the area of WT (defensive strategy). Accordingly, it is better stop building and establish colleges of agriculture and natural resources in the outside the main campus and is necessary measures be used to overcome the weaknesses and threats for those which are away from the main universities and academic centers. At the end, suggested strategies have been presented.