Determination of Dominant Factors of Governance on the Economic, Political, Social and Environmental Aspects of the Agricultural Sector in Iran

The role of governance is attracting much attention these days and is often considered as a major reason why some countries have experienced faster economic growth than others. A typical definition of governance is the process of making and implementing decisions that affect economic, political and social institutions. Much of this idea of governance, or good governance, is related to the functioning of government within a country, but the concept of governance involves more actors than just government. It includes companies, political parties, the military, non-government organizations (both domestic and international) and even influential individuals. All of these structures have an influence on how decisions are made within a country.

The agricultural sector plays a major role in human life, but the share of this sector has decreased in the economic development of Iran. So due to economic sanctions and numerous challenges, attention should be paid to agriculture in Iran. In this study, we determine the factors of agricultural governance which can be used to improve Iran’s agricultural sector. We first use the Meta-synthesis method to find the important factors/variables that have been used in the literature to investigate agricultural governance worldwide. Then we present these variables to two Iranian experts who rank the variables on a worldwide basis using the Shannon Entropy method (which is explained later). The variables from the Meta-synthesis analysis are also presented to a selected group of ten Iranian experts. They identify the important variables of agricultural governance in Iran by modifying, adding, and deleting variables from the meta-synthesis. These experts weigh the variables by a Binary Comparison Matrix (which is explained later). Experts are selected by Snowball sampling and they complete their list (and ranking) through Delphi method. Finally, we compare the global agricultural governance variables from the Shannon Entropy method with those from the pairwise comparison matrix using the Fuzzy method.

The results from the pairwise comparison matrix in Iran are different from the results of the Meta-synthesis method worldwide. The Meta-synthesis method shows that international policy, group participation, and cooperative companies, and observance standards have the highest importance and rank. However, for the fuzzy analysis the factors of agricultural employment, group participation and cooperative companies have the highest weight in the political, social and environmental areas and the factors of increase production, and financial and capital markets have the highest importance in the economic area. The group participation and cooperative companies are common in both methods. Group participation and cooperative companies provide a connection between people and government so that popular demands are easily communicated to the government. Group participation refers to an approach toward building accountability that relies on civil engagement – in which ordinary farmers or cooperative companies demand accountability. The role of group participation is not to replace but to complement and enhance public accountability mechanisms. It includes two categories including Formal social participation, which are social participation mechanisms that are formally written in laws and Informal social participation, which are social participation mechanisms which are not written in law. Easy access to financial resources is one of the requirements for investment and development of the agricultural sector. However, due to the characteristics of the agricultural sector in Iran, and the lack of developed agricultural financial markets, this sector faces investment constraints. The agricultural sector can be one of the sectors which provides meaningful employment for the rural population. This research suggests that increasing agricultural employment is important for improving agricultural governance. Despite having such a large reduction in employment, the agricultural sector still employs three times more than any other sector. Agricultural production is vitally important to the world. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for 2.5 billion people in the world, yet the growth of agricultural productivity has stalled. Yields for major grains grow by about 1 percent per year, which is lower than the population growth rate. Given that, expanding the cultivated area is not possibility to meet future needs so increasing agricultural productivity is the only solution to feeding the growing (urbanized) population (who has higher food demand). The use of modern communications methods in extension services can foster adoption of new technologies and promote profitable cultivation among farmers. Increasing productivity among smallholders in developing countries is a crucial instrument to guarantee food security in the long-run (Dethier et al, 2011). One of the most important worldwide variables of agricultural governance is international policy. The international aspects of agriculture policy have an important role in pursuing the fundamental objectives of governments. For instance, the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union emphasizes agricultural productivity, as a fair standard of living for farmers, ensuring reasonable prices for consumers, and promoting stability in markets (in particular stabilizing imports and exports) as well as food security (Ciolos, 2012). Another significant variable in agricultural governance worldwide is observance standards. Standards and technical regulations have attracted increasing attention in ongoing regional and global trade policy dialogue as tariff and quota issues seem to assume a declining dimension. With the reduction in the applicability of tariff barriers, the adoption rate of standards as a trade restrictive strategy has increased significantly.

Group participation shows that the introduction of civic engagement into the entire process of allocating, spending and monitoring public resources can help produce significant operational results (improved performance, the introduction of corrective measures) and process outcomes (Institutional, behavioral and relational changes). This can take the form of direct farmer participation in formulating public policy and budgets in the agricultural sector. Participatory policy formulation has become an increasingly common trend, particularly with the introduction of the poverty reduction strategies at the national and community levels driven by development initiatives at the local level. Participatory budget formation usually occurs at the local level, but at higher levels, representatives of the farming community can play an important role in expressing farmers' preferences in setting up and financing budgets.