Using the analytic hierarchy process to select the most important non-wood forest products for Iasi county

Abstract

In Romania, the non-wood forest products are mainly represented by the fauna of hunting interest, forest fruits, truffles and edible mushrooms and medicinal plants. The aim of this research was to study the most important non-wood forest products from Iaşi County. The analyze model used in similar studies done in the case of other counties across Romania was taken into account. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to assess the performance of selected alternatives by means of pairwise comparisons. The analyses were carried out using the Expert Choice Desktop software package. Honey and pheasant were the most promising non-wood forest products, while the less promising was the European elderberry. According to the results of this study, we conclude that Iaşi County has a great potential for harvesting and marketing of NWFPs.