Identifying the Economic and Educational-Extension Activities Affecting Cultivated Area of Medicinal Plants: A Comparison of the Weighting Methods of Entropy and Fuzzy Triangular in Delphi Technique

This study aimed to identify economic and educational-extension factors affecting the cultivated area of medicinal plants in Guilan Province using entropy and fuzzy triangular weighting methods in the Delphi technique. The research findings confirmed the substantial role of economic and educational factors in the development of cultivated area of medicinal plants. The results showed that training through field visits, particularly visits to out-of-state, identifying and emphasizing on cultivation of medicinal plants that have medicinal effects are tangible, training through visual, audio, and text media in the cultivation of medicinal plants, providing low-cost credit to cultivate medicinal plants, training through the establishment of a model farm for medicinal plants and attending the multi-day extension - educational classes with an emphasis on the cultivation of these plants, are respectively the most important economic and extension activities affecting the development of cultivated area of medicinal plants.