Agricultural sustainability assessment in Fars province of Iran through the lens of the elimination multi-criteria decision-making method

Abstract

The main objective of the present research was to assess agricultural sustainability through the lens of the Elimination Method. Iranian wheat farmers in Fars province comprised the population of the study. Smapling table of Krejcie and Morgan was applied to estimate the statistically plausible sample size. A stratified sampling approach was used for selecting sampling randomly. The research instrument included a structured questionnaire. A panel of experts approved the face and content validities. Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Composite Reliability (CR), and items correlations were used to confirm the convergent validity of the constructs. The average shared squared variance (ASV) and the maximum shared squared variance (MSV) criteria were applied to examine the divergent validity of constructs. Employing the Elimination Method to assess agricultural sustainability in four counties of Fars revealed that Marvdasht is the most sustainable area for the development of wheat cultivation. Because it was able to fulfill 16 indicators out of 23 indicators of agricultural sustainability. The high level of productivity and efficiency of the wheat crop in this region is one of the main reasons for the relatively high sustainability of wheat production practices. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that Darab was the second most suitable region for developing wheat production. Based on the Elimination Method, the region was able to fulfill six indicators out of 23 agricultural sustainability assessment indicators. According to the results of ranking alternatives using the Elimination Method, the two counties of Kazeroun and Eghlid could not acceptably fulfill indicators of agricultural sustainability. In other words, it seems that these two regions are not suitable for the development of wheat production in Fars province. In the end, it was recommended that the Elimination Method can be a useful approach for urgent decision-making and agricultural managers and decision-makers in Fars province should focus more intensively on the development of wheat production in Marvdasht.