Choosing the Most Appropriate Method of Compensation Natural Losses to Agricultural Sector of Iran Through AHP Technique

Abstract
Iran in the world, in terms of natural disasters is allocated as 10th place. Statistics for damages to the agricultural sector in the past two decades shows this sector on average each year is damaged between 8500 to 10 trillion rials, only small amount of it is financed by government. This study aimed to identify the most appropriate way to compensate the natural losses in Iran’s agricultural sector using AHP technique. For determining different conventional methods in the world, experiences of Iran and some developed countries (such as United States, Canada, Sweden, France, England, Germany, Australia, Finland, Russia, Hungary, Poland and Japan) and a number of developing countries (including Bangladesh, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Costa Rica and Colombia) in the case of methods of compensation due to natural losses were studied and the AHP model was developed. In this model, a total of nine common methods of compensation of damages to the farmers, according to 10 criterias were evaluated. These methods through AHP questionnaire and face to face interview were judged by 60 relevant experts in 6 provinces. Results of the AHP analysis showed that creating Natural disaster storage fund, Local free-interest loans fund and agricultural insurance fund, respectively are the best ways to managing the natural losses to farmers in Iran.

JEL Classification: Q01

Keywords:
Compensation the Losses, AHP, Agriculture, Natural Disaster Storage Fund, Local Free-Interest Loans Fund, Agricultural Insurance Fund