Evaluation of the Performance of Agricultural Development Service Firms (ADSF) in Zanjan Province using AHP

This study sought to investigate the performance of Agricultural Development Firms (ADFs) in Zanjan Province during 2010-2011. These firms started their formal operation in 2007 after a few years of pilot testing. Using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach, this study utilized Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to judge against the quantitative and qualitative performance of ADFs. The population in quantitative part of the study included a census of managers supervising ADFs (N = 63). Moreover, a purposeful sample of six government officials in Zanjan province participated in the qualitative part of the study. Criteria for evaluating the performance of ADFs were obtained using library search and deep interviews with provincial level supervisors. These criteria were assessed using pair-wise comparison and analyzed using Expert Choice Software. Results revealed two main criteria with highest weighted mean: 1) the amount of activities ADFs are engaged, 2) the physical space occupied by ADFs. Results further showed that the following firms possessed the above criteria: 1) Diba Khooshe, 2) Gostare Sepehr, 3) Ahoora Gostar. It is recommended that these criteria handed over to Agricultural Jihad for further evaluating other firms. It is also recommended that ADFs plan their activities based on the above mentioned criteria and that in the future follow their activities based on the performance criteria mentioned in this study.