Designing an Economic Model for the Development of the Wheat Seed Control and Certification Process with Using the Grounded Theory and Network Analysis Process

Introduction The seed industry is a growing industry in the world, and the role of processed seeds in increasing the production performance is undeniable. Due to the population growth, the importance of achieving food security is increasing. Healthy seed is one of the important factors in the development of agricultural production. Although agricultural production systems have increased their production, it does not seem to be enough, though. The basic problems of the seed market and insufficient supply of seeds required by farmers have made it necessary to identify samples of seed quality development. The current research was the first research at the national level dealing with the design of a conceptual model for the development of control and certification of wheat seeds using the grounded theory method and prioritization of effective factors. Materials and MethodsThis research had a fundamental-applicative goal and was applied in at two stages. In At the first stage, after designing the interview questions, the grounded theory was carried out in three stages of open, central, and selective coding using a systematic approach in order to design a conceptual model. After designing the paradigm model and identifying the factors affecting the development of seed control and certification, the prioritization of the components was done including technical, social, economic and structural criteria using analytic network process. Results and DiscussionAfter analyzing the interviews, 140 initial codes were identified and the initial codes were reduced to 94 and then to 47 concepts. In the following parts, 11 core categories including processed seed production standards, laws and regulations, environmental factors, regulatory factors, equipment and technology, stability in the seed market, government support policies, human factors, wheat seed quality, attitude and awareness, and economic infrastructure were identified. The results of prioritization among the four effective criteria on the development of seed certification indicated that the technical criterion was more important than the other three criteria. In terms of the prioritization of the components, the quality of the seed kernel having a weight of 0.49, the performance of the responsible expert having a weight of 0.44, the cost of producing processed seeds having a weight of 0.39 were the first priority of technical, social, and economic criteria. Applying the ranking of production units with a weight of 0.57 and making the seed market competitive with a weight of 0.26 were more important than other components of structural criteria. ConclusionAccording to the results of this study, and the first priority of the technical criterion, it is suggested to monitor the quality of seed kernels and select appropriate farm inspectors. Moreover, in order to strengthen the human resources system, it is recommended to hold continuous courses in the field of seed quality. To implement the solutions of the paradigm model, it is recommended to prevent buying and selling unhealthy seeds and balance the costs of producing and selling processed seeds.