Determining the Appropriate Strategy for Marketing and Export of Agricultural Products in Production Cooperatives of Maku Free Zone

Although the export of agricultural products in Iran has an important role in the national economy, but agricultural production cooperatives have failed in marketing and exporting products. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriative strategies for marketing and exporting of agricultural products in agricultural production cooperatives of Maku Industrial and Trade Free Zone. An applied research was conducted by using a survey method and a questionnaire. The statistical population included directors and members of the board of directors of the two production cooperatives and experts who were 40 people in overall that were studied by the census method. Using internal and external matrices and SWOT analytical matrix, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing cooperatives were prioritized and then appropriate strategies were identified. Based on the results, a total of 12 strength versus 20 weaknesses and 13 opportunities against 13 threats were identified. Based on the results, a conservative- revision strategy was identified to use opportunities and eliminate weaknesses. The proposed strategies were: using investors to create processing and complementary industries; Utilization of new production technologies; Employing specialized staff and managers in production cooperatives; Granting banking facilities with special conditions to exporters of agricultural products; Conduct marketing research; Quantitative and qualitative improvement of agricultural products; And timely provision of production inputs.