Designing a Model to Develop Businesses for the Cluster Processing of Garden Products in Kermanshah Province and its Relationship with Rural Development

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to design a model to develop a series of businesses for the cluster processing of garden products in Kermanshah province and its relationship with rural development. Methods: This study is based on a qualitative research design and the grounded theory method. The study population included the experts of the industrial town and the horticulture industry affiliated to the Agriculture Organization of Kermanshah province as well as cluster developers in the province. They were selected through purposeful sampling. Results: A total of 83 concepts related to the research topic were extracted through open coding. These concepts were formulated in 23 subcategories that formed the conceptual basis for the cluster development of businesses in garden products. Geographic focus, trust, cooperation and competition, opportunities and challenges facing businesses as causal conditions, entrepreneurship and collective identity, access to appropriate infrastructures and markets, regional economic prosperity and access to appropriate technology, cluster development agents, startups, existence of boycott and climate change are the tenets, concepts, and phenomena that need the attention or support of the government and the institutions involved. Also, business synchronization, training of the workforce and effective provision of business services are considered as the interaction strategies for the cluster development of horticultural products in Kermanshah province. The outcome of such a state of affairs would be agricultural development, economic development, market development, human development and socio-cultural development.Conclusion: Designing this native model can set an example to follow by rural development planners, industrial towns, the Agricultural Organization, the practitioners of the related businesses, and gardeners