Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Banking Facilities Granted to Plans of Improved and Increased Livestock and Poultry Production in Razavi Khorasan Province of Iran

Given the fact that one of the main limitations of growth and development of Iran's agriculture sector is 'capital', this study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the facilities granted to projects to improve and increase the livestock and poultry production in Razavi Khorasan province of Iran. For this purpose, the concerned criteria were identified by Delphi technique and using the structural equation technique, the impact of effective factors on the effectiveness of the facilities granted to the projects was measured. The combined index of the effectiveness of the facilities granted to the plans for improving and increasing livestock and poultry productions were almost moderate, estimating 48.9 and 47.3 percent, respectively. Among the effectiveness indicators of the facilities granted to the plan to improve and increase livestock production, the indicators of 'improving milk quality', 'increasing conversion ratio and added value of milk production' and 'increasing conversion ratio and added value of red meat production' and among the effectiveness indicators of the facilities granted to the plan to improve and increase poultry production, the indicators of 'improving egg quality', 'increasing conversion ratio and value added of egg production' and 'increasing conversion ratio and value added of chicken meat production' had the least effectiveness. In general, the facilities granted to the beneficiaries of the above plan during the studied period in Razavi Khorasan province were not effective due to various factors such as unfavorable economic conditions in the period under review, changes in laws and regulations, frost, drought and finally, the lack of support and assistance of the banking system. Therefore, it was suggested to the authoriries of the agriculture sector to create a balance between the return and the interest rate of repayment, the assistance of the banks with the loss-bearing beneficiaries and especially, the development of agricultural insurance.