Providing the Optimal Economic Model of Investment in the Agricultural Sector of Mazandaran Province Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making Models

Economic development requires investment in various sectors of the economy. The agricultural sector has a major share of Iran's GDP, employment and food security. The main objectives of this study are to identify and prioritize investment potentials in the agricultural sector of Mazandaran province using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models. For this purpose, 8 investment options of the province, including: pressurized irrigation, construction of gardens and pastures, electrification of wells, poultry farming, watershed management, conversion industries, fisheries and greenhouses were selected. Increasing production capacity was compared and prioritized. The results showed that in the criterion of the return on investment period and the rate of return on capital, activities that do not require group work and have fewer employees are a priority. Also, according to the final calculations, the processing industry has the first priority in the investment of the province's agricultural sector, and watershed management, construction of gardens and pastures, poultry farming, pressurized irrigation, fisheries and aquaculture, electrification of wells and finally greenhouses in the second to eighth priority were placed.Based on the research results, it was suggested that facilitating the inflow of funds into the agricultural sector and the impact of government fiscal policies on private sector activities should be considered by policy makers and the policy of reform and development of the financial sector should be a priority in the country.