Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Analysis of Agricultural Systems: A case Study of Shushtar County of Iran

Climate change and long acute droughts, water crises, rural migration and rural population decline, environmental pressures due to the inefficient use of external inputs, low efficiency of conventional agriculture and a corresponding withdrawal of government support are rendering Iran’s agricultural sector increasingly unsustainable. Hence, in order to protect the natural resources and also create positive change in the situation of farmers and rural people in general, it’s important to consider sustainable agricultural development. For this purpose, investigating the agriculture experts’ viewpoints is crucial, because their perceptions are important for the success or failure of any policy and they act as gatekeepers and are able to impact others’ decisions to adopt/not adopt a policy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the views of agriculture experts regarding sustainable development of rural and agricultural sector of Shushtar County and their priorities. For this purpose, the method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to set priorities. The results revealed that the agriculture experts believed the economy and production-orientation were the most important diminution for sustainable rural development.