Abstract
Stakeholders’ participation in strategic decision-making can help towards preventing conflicts and increasing confidence in public institutions and accelerating the development process. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of farmers’ participation in strategic decision-making regarding poplar tree farming development. Given the high potential for poplar farming development in Urmia County in northwestern Iran, this region was selected for a case study. Internal and external factors were determined using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis. These factors were then evaluated using a 10-point Likert scale questionnaire to determine the average score and an independent t-test to compare the differences between the two responding groups of 153 farmers and 61 members of the local government. The findings show that there were significant differences of opinion in 18 of the 37 factors, which include four economic factors, seven social factors, and seven technical factors. There were also significant differences of opinions in three of the six defined development strategies. The overall conclusions were that decision-making should involve all the key stakeholders whose attitudes towards decision-making may vary, and poplar farmers’ participation in decision-making can lead to more accurate decisions and more effective results by implementing these decisions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdul-Rahaman A, Abdulai A (2018) Do farmer group’s impact on farm yield and efficiency of smallholder farmers? Evidence from rice farmers in northern Ghana. Food Pol 81:95–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.10.007
Alizadeh Anaraki K, Lashgarara F, Kiadaliri H (2012) Effect of Socio-economic factors on development of poplar plantation in Guilan province (Case Study: Somesara). Iran J For Poplar Res 20(2):346–358
AlMarwani M (2020) Pedagogical potential of SWOT analysis: an approach to teaching critical thinking. Think Skills Creat 38:100741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100741
Bandaru V, Yaramasu R, Koutilya PN, He J, Fernando S, Sahajpal R, Wardlow BD, Suyker A, Justice C (2020) PhenoCrop: An integrated satellite-based framework to estimate physiological growth stages of corn and soybeans Int. J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf 92:102188
Berguson B, Eaton J, Stanton B (2010) Development of Hybrid Poplar for Commercial Production in the United States: The Pacific Northwest and Minnesota Experience, Sustainable Alternative Fuel Feedstock Opportunities. Challenges and Roadmaps for Six U.S. Regions. 288–299
Blackstock KL, Richards C (2007) Evaluating stakeholder involvement in river basin planning: a Scottish case study. Water Pol 9(5):493–512. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2007.018
Bloese P, Miller RO, Keathley D (2017) Evaluating hybrid poplar clones developed by the Univ. of Minnesota’s Natural Resource Research Institute in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: 7th-year Results (Expanded from a poster presented at the 11th Biennial Short Rotation Woody Crops Operations Working Group Conference, Fort Pierce, Florida, USA. Forest Biomass Innovation Center Research Report. 13p
Darvish AK, Faham E (2008) Analysis of education extension factors influencing on adoption of agroforestry among poplar farmers Northern provinces (Gilan, Golestan and Mazandaran provinces). The second poplar planting potentially, Forest and Rangelands Research Institute 2(1): 437–449
Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2016) Poplars and other fast-growing trees: renewable resources for future green economies. international poplar commission, 25th Session, Berlin, Germany, 13–16 September. http://ipc25berlin2016.com/fileadmin/allgemein/pdf/veranstaltungen/IPC25_2016/Plenary_1/Dieter_Poplars_green_future_Dieter_FNR.pdf
Kangas J, Store R, Leskinen P, Mehtatalo L (2000) Improving the quality of landscape ecological forest planning by utilizing advanced decision-support tools. Forest Ecol Manag 132:157–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(99)00221-2
Khayatinejad Aqgonbad S, Hossein Zadeh O, Hajjarian M, Abdi MR (2018) Strategic decision on the development of poplar wood production using SWOT-ANP (Case study: Urmia). Iran J Wood Paper Ind 8(4):533–548
Manzone M, Calvo A (2016) Energy and CO2 analysis of poplar and maize crops for biomass production in north Italy Renew. Energy 86:675–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.08.047
Manzone M, Airoldi G, Balsari P (2009) Energetic and economic evaluation of a poplar cultivation for the biomass production in Italy. Biomass Bioenerg 33:1258–1264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2009.05.024
Mapstone BD (1996) Scalable decision criteria for environmental impact assessment: effect size, Type I, and Type II errors. In: Detecting ecological impacts. Chapter 5, Academic Press 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012627255-0/50007-0
Mauerhofer V (2016) Introduction to the special issue: public participation in environmental and land use policy in East Asia. Land Use Pol 52:477–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.10.0023
Miller RO, Bender BA (2016) Planting density effects on biomass growth of hybrid poplar varieties in Michigan. Forest Biomass Innovation Center Research Report 2016 (c). Michigan State University 14p. https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/396/36452/2016c.pdf
Miller RO (2016) Developing an algorithm to predict single tree biomass weight from stem diameter measurements in young hybrid poplar energy plantations in Michigan. Forest Biomass Innovation Center Research Report (a). Michigan State University 3p. https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/396/36452/2016a.pdf
Modirrahmati AR (2008) A strategy program for development of plantations in Iran. Forests and Rangelands Research Institute. Research Group of poplar and fast growing trees. 93 p
Morhart C, Sheppard J, Seidl F, Spiecker H (2013) Influence of different tillage systems and weed treatments in the establishment year on the final biomass production of short rotation coppice poplar. Forests 4:849–867. https://doi.org/10.3390/f4040849
Mosadeghi R, Warnken J, Tomlinson R, Mirfenderesk H (2015) Comparison of Fuzzy-AHP and AHP in a spatial multi-criteria decision-making model for urban land-use planning. Comput Environ Urban Syst 49:54–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2014.10.001
Muneer PM, Schuetz H, Wang F, Skotak M, Jones J, Gorantla S, Zimmerman MC, Chandra N (2013) Induction of oxidative and nitrosative damage leads to cerebrovascular inflammation in an animal model of mild traumatic brain injury induced by primary blast. Free Radic Biol Med 60:282–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2013.02.029
Neupane RP, Sharma KR, Thapa SG (2002) Adoption of agroforestry in the hills of Nepal: a logistic regression analysis. Agr Syst 72:177–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(01)00066-X
Njakou SA, Zenone T, De Groote T, Bergante S, Facciotto G, Sixto H, Ciria P, Weger J, Ceulemans R (2015) Energy performances of intensive and extensive short rotation cropping systems for woody biomass production in the EU. Renew Sustain Energ Rev 41:845–854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.08.058
NOAA (2011) Assessment of sustainable tourism. Available at: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/management/international/pdfs/day2_assessment_manual.pdf. Accessed November 2018
OECD (2005) Evaluating public participation in policy making. OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) 128p. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264008960-en
Primmer E, Simo K (2006) Goals for public participation implied by sustainable development and the preparatory process of the finnish national forest programmer. Forest Pol Econ 8:838–853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2005.01.002
Qamari-Zare A, Modirrahmati A (2017) The necessity of developing wood crops instead of vegetables in south of Tehran. J Iran Nat 3(4):6–10. https://doi.org/10.22092/irn.2017.112963
Qingwei F (2012) Research on health human resources of the forest industry region in heilongjiang province based on SWOT analysis. Proc Environ Sci J 12:1034–1039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2012.01.384
Rupsys P, Petrauskas E (2009) Forest harvesting problem in the light of the information measures. Trends Appl Sci Res 4:25–35. https://doi.org/10.3923/tasr.2009.25.35
Sannigrahi P, Ragauskas AJ, Tuskan GA (2010) Poplar as a feedstock for biofuels: a review of compositional characteristics. Biofpr 4:209–226
Schweier J, Becker G (2013) Economics of poplar short rotation coppice plantations on marginal land in Germany. Biomass Bioenerg 59:494–502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2013.10.020
Taffa Ariti A, Vliet JV, Verburg PH (2018) Farmers’ participation in the development of land use policies for the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Land Use Pol 71:129–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.11.051
Wang D, Fan J, Jing P, Cheng Y, Ruan H (2016) Analyzing the impact of climate and management factors on the productivity and soil carbon sequestration of poplar plantations. Environ Res 144:88–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2015.10.016
Wesselink A, Paavola J, Fritsch O, Renn O (2011) Rationales for public participation in environmental policy and governance: practitioners’ perspectives. Environ Plann A 43(11):2688–2704. https://doi.org/10.1068/a44161
Wheelen TL, Hunger JD, Hoffman AN, Bamford CE (2017) Strategic management and business policy, globalization, innovation and sustainability, 15th edn. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, p 851p
Yildirim HT (2012) Industrial wood production and consumption in Turkey and some future projections. Afr J Bus Manag 6(6):2261–2266
Yousefi B, Modir-Rahmati AR (2011) Survey on adaptation and wood yield of Populus nigra clones in comparative populetum of Sanandaj (final stage). Iran J For Poplar Res 19(3):283–299
Funding
This work was supported by the Urmia University under Grant 31/RD/749.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khayatinejad Aqgonbad, S., Hossein Zadeh, O., Hajjarian, M. et al. Impact of Key Stakeholders’ Participation in Strategic Decision-Making Regarding Poplar Tree Farming Development. Small-scale Forestry 21, 229–247 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-021-09496-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-021-09496-3