Determining Socio-Economic Factors for Contract Farming Success in Iran.

In the last two decades, contract farming has turn-into a method for maximum resources utilization. However, this method has been neglected in Iran; and only developed for a limited number of agricultural commodities in small regions. Because of considerable advantages of contract farming,, this study focused on analysis the success factors of tomato contract farming in Kermanshah province. For this purpose, a desk review alongside a structural interview was designed. The questionaries' was completed by company experts and 246 farmers who work with the company. Finally, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method was applied for data analysis. The main results indicated that tomato contract farming in Kermanshah leads to a 65% increase in tomato yield and an 11% decrease in water consumption. Moreover, it causes a higher income for farmers due to the higher tomato price relative to market prices. Based on the ANP analysis, an increase in farmers' income per hectare with a weight of 0.097 is the main success factor from the farmers' point of view. On the other hand, from the company's point of view, access to high-quality raw materials with the weight of 0.117 is the most vital success factor of tomato's contract farming. Based on these results, supporting contract farming should be considered as a priority of the country's development plan for selected agricultural products in different regions. For instance, export facilities for the final goods of contract farming are a strong incentive for the development of contract farming.