transforming date palm waste into sustainable opportunities: a swot analysis with stakeholder insights

Each year, a substantial amount of leftover date palm material accumulates near date palm plantations in khuzestan province, southwest iran. this not only contributes to environmental pollution but also lacks economic benefits. to address this issue, this research explores strategies for utilizing date palm waste, incorporating insights from experts and date palm growers through a survey-based study. the study involved 91 experts from the agricultural jihad organization and the cooperative, labor, and social welfare general office, nine faculty members from the date and tropical fruit research institute, and 30 members of the growers’ cooperative. data was collected using a questionnaire structured around swot analysis, categorizing factors into environmental, social, and economic aspects. the analytical hierarchy process (ahp) method was used to determine weighting, and the data was analyzed with spss, excel, and expert choice software. the cumulative score of internal factors (2.685) indicated that strengths outweighed weaknesses, while the total score of external factors (2.52) showed that opportunities were more significant than external threats. results from the internal and external matrix (iem) analyses further emphasized the prioritization of invasive strategies. among these, the key invasive strategies—categorized into environmental, social, and economic aspects—include establishing agricultural cooperatives to purchase palm waste and creating added value. this approach also leverages resources from local universities and research institutes, a skilled workforce in processing and supplementary industries, and the production of animal feed from palm leaves through shredding and supplementation.