Prioritization of Agricultural Exploitation Systems for Behbahan Township Based on the Model of Sustainable Livelihoods

The purpose of this study was to prioritize common exploitation systems in Behbahan Township based on sustainable livelihoods model. Capital of sustainable livelihoods model such as: physical, social, human, financial and natural resources were considered as comparison criteria based on analytical hierarchy process requirements. Sub-criteria were chosen at different levels using the knowledge and theoretical foundations. Sixty farmers were selected randomly to collect information from any of the exploitation systems (family, rental and cooperative). In order to determine the weight of each criteria and sub criteria on different levels, 5 questionnaires were completed by experts who were specialists and knowledgeable on the subject of research. A paired comparisons based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process was implemented. Data were analyzed using Excel, SPSS (V20) and Expert Choice software. Results showed that the criteria of human, financial, social, and physical and natural resource capital with the weight of 0.360, 0.354, 0.106, 0.099 and 0.081 played a significant role in determining the sustainability of a farming system. Also, among the three systems studied in this research, cooperative system introduced as the most stable and family and rental systems were in the next rank.