Strategic Analysis of the Development of Healthy Agribusinesses in Ilam Province

Today, green entrepreneurship as a new approach has drawn the attention of public and educational policymaking in different countries, so no one can deny the importance of producing healthy agricultural products to maintain the health of society and the environment. The present research was an applied study in terms of the goal and a mixed-methods (qualitative-quantitative) study in terms of the methodology in which the SWOT analysis technique was used. The statistical population was composed of all female farmers in Ilam province who had successfully received the Permissible Pollutant Threshold License for the crops from Ilam province’s General Directorate of Standards. The participants were sampled purposively by the snowball technique. The data collection instrument in the qualitative phase was deep and semi-structured interviews conducted both individually and collectively. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire and the SPSS software were used to build the SWOT matrix to identify four strategies (offensive, defensive, conservative, and competitive). Based on the results, the aggressive strategies (SO) include planning to export healthy crops to neighboring countries including Iraq, conservative strategies (WO) include determining successful and forward-looking models in the field of healthy crop production and celebrating and honoring them annually, competitive strategies (ST) include the use of modified seeds in healthy crop production, and defensive strategies (WT) include creating a sales market or vegetable market for healthy crops. The results of prioritizing suitable solutions for the development of healthy products in Ilam province showed that planning for the export of healthy crops to neighboring countries, including Iraq and creating a desire to produce healthy crops by providing the necessary support, training, and information are two of the most important solutions for the development of healthy crops in Ilam province. The results can guide governmental and educational-extension policymakers to develop green entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector.