Determining the level of agricultural development in Iran

Given the importance of agriculture sector in the economy, attention to agricultural development is essential. In Iran, agricultural developments in the provinces have not been conducted homogeneous and large disparities exist among different provinces. This study was conducted to assess agricultural development in different provinces. 82 indicators were used to measure agricultural development level in the areas of agronomy, horticulture, animal husbandry, mechanization and infrastructure services. Required data was gained from Information and Communication Technology Center, Ministry of Agriculture (Jahad-e- keshavarzi) in 2011-12. Composite index and analysis technique of main components was used for obtaining the results. The results show that considerable gap between provinces in terms of agricultural development. Fars, Mazandaran and West Azerbaijan provinces have the best rank and Qom, Bushehr, Hormozgan provinces have the lowest rating in agricultural development. Geographical Information System software (GIS) was used for spatial analysis of the state of the provinces’ agricultural development and the position of each province in agricultural development is determined.