Drought risk management in agricultural sector with an emphasis on the socioeconomic dimension under Fuzzy Logic in the Sistan region

Agriculture is an important sector for economic development in any society and country, so the development of this sector can be a big leap toward economic development. However, this sector is suffering from frequent droughts with extensive socioeconomic dimensions. Sistan is an important agricultural region in Iran where most people are employed in this sector. Nonetheless, the agricultural sector in this region is presently struggling with severe stress and crisis due to drought, which has had numerous risks in socioeconomic aspects. This research aims to deal with drought risk management in the agricultural sector considering its socioeconomic dimensions. In this respect, the most important dimensions and criteria of agricultural risk management were identified and prioritized based on the opinions of participants (including farmers and experts) using the fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with the Decision Support System (DSS) approach. Based on the results, the farmers put the production risk in priority with a weight of 0.8. But, based on the experts, the price risk has the highest weight of 0.8. In contrast, the legal risk (with a weight of 0.2) had the lowest rank from the perspective of the farmers, which is similar to the experts’ opinion. In addition to the legal risk, the human and social risks are also at lower ranks with a weight of 0.4. According to the farmers, the top priority option is crop insurance with a weight of 0.592163 whereas according to the experts, it is the low-water irrigation system with a weight of 0.637997.