Agricultural sustainability assessment in the Iranian provinces

Agricultural sector development without sustainability attitude has led to many problems. Sustainability has three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. Over time, increasing agricultural production has led to the overuse of natural resources and therefore, destruction of the environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure agricultural sustainability using a composite index.

For this purpose, firstly 35 economic, social and environmental indicators were gathered for 30 Iranian provinces. Then agricultural sustainability was measured using the Morris, the Mc-Granahan, and the principal component analysis methods.

The results showed that Khorasan Razavi, Fars, Isfahan, and Khuzestan provinces have higher agricultural sustainability than other provinces. Also, in the economic dimension: Khorasan Razavi, East Azerbaijan, and Isfahan provinces; in the social dimension: Fars, Mazandaran, and West Azerbaijan provinces; and in the environmental dimension: Gilan, South Khorasan, and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces; are more sustainable. In addition, Qom, Bushehr, and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces have the lowest economic and social sustainability. As well, Qazvin and Bushehr provinces have the lowest level of environmental sustainability.

Findings showed that unsustainable provinces are weak in socio-economic indicators; especially in seeds, fertilizer applications, use of modern irrigation systems, and appropriate agricultural methods. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in the infrastructure of these indicators to upgrade agricultural sustainability.