Constraints in production and marketing of Iran's pistachio and the policies concerned: an application of the garret ranking technique.

Iran stands first both in production and export of Pistachio in the world and earns sizable income from its export. Despite such a position in global market, Farmers and traders in the country are suffering from a wide kind of bottlenecks. This study aimed to define the critical constraints and to suggest the best way to reduce them. Necessary data were collected through personal interview of randomly selected sample of farmers and exporters/ processors. One hundred farmers and ten processor/ exporters interviewed in Kerman province in the crop year 2007-08.The Garret ranking technique adopted to identify the constraints. Results indicated that; Inadequate irrigation, Unsuitable domestic market structure accompanied with low received prices and price fluctuations and Lack of appropriate chemical fertilizers were the major problems from the farmers point of view, while Aflatoxin contamination standards, Changing government policies toward export and Irregular supply of produce to the market during the year were the sole hinderances from the traders/exports point of view. Ke y words: Garret ranking technique % Constrains % Score % Contract system