Identification and Prioritization of Development Strategies for Entrepreneurial and Commercialization of saffron in Rural Areas Of South Khorasan

The purpose of this study was to use entrepreneurial thinking to identify and prioritize the development strategies of entrepreneurship and commercialization of saffron in rural areas of South Khorasan province in order to rotate traditional agricultural activities in southern Khorasan Province toward innovative activities. In this paper, the integrated approach of the dynamics analysis process SWOT-AHP. First, SWOT analysis has identified and categorized the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of saffron activities in rural areas of South Khorasan Province. Since the issue of decision making of the present research is of a multi-index type and its structure has a hierarchical component of decision-making elements, including goal, criteria and sub-criteria, the hierarchical analysis process (AHP) to calculate the weight and importance of each of the criteria and The following criteria have been used through SWOT analysis. In order to collect the research data, the matrix of paired comparison of each of the components and groups was completed using 15 experts and agricultural industry activists, whose internal strengths with the relative weight of 372/0 were in the first rank and also external opportunities with a relative weight of 344/0 And external threats with a relative weight of 148 and, finally, internal weaknesses with a relative weight of 136/0 were ranked next. The results show that the most important strategy for the development of entrepreneurship and commercialization of saffron in rural areas of South Khorasan province is SO strategy with a utility index of 26.2. The most suitable strategies of this kind are the creation of a suitable platform for private sector investment in the development and commercialization of agricultural products, the use of specialized and experienced personnel to establish community-based associations and promote and educate in the field of commercialization, with emphasis on practical aspects through meetings. And various meetings with the people of the region, marketing and advertising to introduce strategic products in South Khorasan province, the strengthening and support of purchasing cooperatives in the cultivation areas were selected for direct purchase from farmers as the most important strategies.