Passive Defense Strategic Analysis in the Development of Nuclear Technology Applications in Agriculture and Food Industry

Increasing consumption of agricultural and food products and concerns about health and food security have led to public attention to the use of new, safe, clean and more efficient sources. Nuclear technology is one of the effective resources in optimizing and increasing productivity in the agricultural and food industries. The main purpose of this study is to identify and enumerate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the development of nuclear technologies in agriculture and food industry. For this purpose, a strategic factor analysis approach was used. The required data were collected through library search, field and face-to-face interviews and completion of a questionnaire. The statistical population consisted of 40 people who were purposefully selected from experts and specialists in the fields of passive defense, nuclear technology, agriculture and food industry. The type of this applied research is developmental and the method of its implementation is descriptive-analytical. The result included that 17 strengths and 16 weaknesses for internal factors and 9 opportunities and 9 threats for external factors. The results showed that this research topic is located in the defensive area of ​​the matrix of internal-external factors and defensive strategies are the most appropriate. Also, the option of increasing the variety of products and improving the interest of the production chain to the consumption of agricultural and food products using nuclear technology is the most important strategy and has received the highest score of attractiveness. Based on the passive defense perspective, of course this type of strategy is also considered to eliminate the main challenges and obstacles in the development of applications of nuclear technology in agriculture and food industry.