Designing a Sustainable Entrepreneurship Development Model for Iran's Agriculture: Application of Interpretive-Structural Model (ISM)

Due to the lack of attractiveness of agricultural entrepreneurship, a significant part of Iran's agricultural capacities has not been properly utilized. This study focused on identifying and analysing the obstacles to developing sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship in Iran. To this end, identifying barriers was conducted using the Fuzzy Delphi method and data were gathered through interviews and questionnaires. In the following, the obstacles were analysed using the ISM approach and with the participation of a group of 8 experts. An interrelationship diagram of the obstacles was designed at five levels. At the fifth level, the fundamental obstacles included a lack of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship development strategies in the country's macro development plans, the dependence of financial resources of the agricultural sector on the government banking system and government subsidies, lack of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship consulting services, insufficient attention to research and low participation on the part of universities and research institutes. This indicates the immense impact of such barriers on the trajectory toward the realization of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship. At the fourth level, lack of binding laws to assure compliance with environmental standards lack of formal training; At the third level: Lack of incentive policies to increase private sector involvement in providing capital for owners of entrepreneurship ideas, a lack of recognition of opportunities in line with the region's climate, lack of distribution channels in the target markets of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship opportunities, and lack of social development toward creating values and establishing innovative and creative sustainable agricultural businesses; At the second level, lack of knowledge on agricultural entrepreneurship opportunities in optimizing cultivation and water consumption patterns, lack of product pricing systems, and inappropriate marketing; and at the first level, lack of investment in knowledge-based and technological opportunities have been identified as the most susceptible obstacles in realizing sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship.