| Entrepreneurship is a process of creating value by putting together a unique package of resources to exploit an opportunity (Okapara, 2007). Iran is faced with a crisis of unemployment of academic graduates in agricultural majors (Kazemi Mianroodi, 2011). Population growth and a lagging economy are problems facing Iran and other developing countries (Karimi, Chizari, Biemans, & Mulder, 2010). Statistics in 2010 showed that, among the agricultural graduates in Iran, 22% are unemployed and 35% are employed in nonagricultural jobs; this figure is 5% in developed countries (Karimi et al., 2010). In the last 25 years, approximately 50,000 agricultural graduates (including those in natural resource sciences) have been employed in Iran, and 70% are employed in the public sector and 30% are employed in the private sector (Zamani & Azizi, 2006). Solving the employment problem poses a significant challenge to policymakers in most countries. The stability of some governments depends on the resolution of an unemployment crisis (Barani & Zarafshan, 2010). The Statistical Center of Iran (2011) estimated that 270,000 university graduates enter the labor market every year, but this factor does not reflect market capacity. In 2010, approximately 22% of agricultural and natural resources graduates were job seekers, which was 10% more than the unemployment rate for the entire country (Hosseinpour & Rezaei, 2010). The latest report from the Central Bank of Iran (2010) showed that the number of graduates in agriculture and animal husbandry for 2003–2004 to 2008–2009 was 482,308 from public universities and centers and 408,405 from Azad University. Lack of coordination between academic education and the needs of the labor market created problems for graduates and researchers in this area (Hosseini & Shiri, 2010). Unemployment has increased for college graduates, especially those who are in agriculture, and has become a major socioeconomic problem in Iran (Shiri, Savari, & Rostami, 2013). An accurate and coordinated plan is required to address this problem (Zamani & Azizi, 2006). |