Main Article Content
Abstract (in English)
The successful design and implementation of agricultural policies are crucial for consolidating the foundations of the Islamic system, fighting against poverty, achieving sustainable development, improving the economic and social status of farmers, defending independence, and achieving self-sufficiency in meeting the needs of citizens. However, statistics and research indicate that basic goals in the field of agriculture in Afghanistan have not been achieved yet, which suggests that agricultural policies have been incorrectly designed, incompletely implemented, or not implemented at all. To address this issue, applied descriptive research was conducted using the survey method to identify and prioritize the barriers to the implementation of agricultural policies in Afghanistan. The population of the research consisted of the employees of the Central and local Departments of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock, and a sample size of 363 people were selected by random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect the required data, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to check its reliability. The questionnaire was also distributed to experts for validation and necessary amendments were made. For data analysis, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, KMO index, and Bartlett test were used with the SPSS program. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used through Expert Choice 11.0 software to rank the obstacles to implementing agricultural policies. The research findings showed that the main obstacles to the implementation of agricultural policies were related to the formulation and nature of the policy, managerial and structural obstacles, obstacles related to implementers, systemic obstacles, communication and technological obstacles, and local obstacles. Among these, obstacles related to the formulation and nature of agricultural policies had the greatest impact and was ranked as the strongest barrier to the implementation of agricultural policies.