I
ncreased cost of tobacco cultivation is a major concern for its
sustainable production in Iran. Therefore, the development
of tobacco mechanized cultivation is a necessity. Given this,
the driving and inhibiting factors of the development of mechanized
tobacco cultivation were investigated by the Delphi
technique in three rounds in Guilan Province, Iran. Nineteen
experts from the Jahad Agriculture Organization of Guilan
Province and the Agriculture Management Services in Rasht
County and Western Guilan were selected as the research panel
as recommended by the academic professors of the Guilan
Province. The results were analyzed by SPSS21. In the last
round, 10 superior driving and inhibiting factors were ranked
based on the final experts’ consistency as the final decision.
The results revealed that identification of pioneer farmers and
their encouragement to mechanized tobacco cultivation and the
import of the latest technologies of tobacco cultivation and
their modification in accordance with regional conditions were
the most important driving factors as 97.37 and 94.74% of
panel experts agreed, respectively. In addition, 98.68% of
experts rated insufficient research on tobacco cultivation mechanization
and 96.05% of experts rated the small size of tobacco
farms as the most important inhibiting factors. Accordingly, the
development of supportive policies to support pioneer tobacco
growers in mechanized cultivation of this industrial crop, the
technical assessment for modern tobacco cultivation machinery,
the reduction of imported tobacco machinery prices, and the
support of research on mechanization of tobacco cultivation are
some important strategies that should be considered by those
involved in tobacco production in Guilan Province, Iran
