Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Year:2016 | Volume:47-2 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:20

The aim of the present study is measurement and analysis of food price inflation due to implementation of Targeted Subsidy Reform program on urban households in Sistan and Baluchestan province. For this purpose, firstly, to evaluate composition and changes in household consumption basket Engel functions for food and non-food items in years 2009 and 2012 were estimated. In the next step, Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) for all food groups in mentioned years was estimated. Then, Compensating Variation (CV) criterion was computed to measuring the consumer’ s welfare changes based on Taylor series expansion method and using the results from the estimated QUAIDS model. Income elasticities of Engel Functions showed that after the implementation of Targeted Subsidy Reform program by the end of 2012, none of the food and non-food products consumption status changed. The results of the CV computing indicated that in this period, the urban Sistan and Baluchestan households on average were lost 11, 008, 222 Rials of their income due to rising food prices after the implementation of the first phase of Targeted Subsidy Reform program. This amount is equivalent to 61. 73 percent of the food budget and 19. 94 percent of their total income.

In this research, price transmission between wholesale and retail levels of two products, potato and onion has been studied. The data of wholesale and retail prices of Kurdistan province from 1386: 12 to 1392: 3 were used. According to the results of the ADF unit-root test series retail and wholesale prices of two products were integrated of order 1 and the Johansson cointegration test results indicated the prices for products were two series cointegrated. To examine the causal relationship between retail and wholesale prices of products, Toda – Yamamoto (1995) test was used and the results indicated that there was a one-way causal relationship from wholesale to retail for potato and onion. Hansen(1999)’ s Sup-F test was carried out to examine the existing of nonlinear price adjustment that the result indicated that there were nonlinear price adjustment for potato and onion. Therefore, univariate TAR, M-TAR and LSTAR models were used. The results indicated asymmetry price transmission in potato and onion market.

This study investigates aspects of irrigation water pricing as an important economic tool in integrated water resources management (IWRM) in the basin level. In this way, using linear programming model, water shadow price (the demand price of water) was estimated in Kohgiloye & Boyerahmad's basins. Then, using engineering economics method, the cost of water in farm level (the supply price of water) for Kowsar dam was calculated. From comparison of these two prices with existing tariff rates, the appropriate approach to agricultural water pricing was introduced. The results showed that the shadow price for each cubic meter of water was less than the cost of water. So, water pricing according to get all the cost of water supply, transmission and distribution of agricultural water is not suitable option and implementing this policy in line with the IWRM requires government support and preferential pricing policies in the long-run.

Given that farmers try to optimize their individual utility, they generally have different goals, most of which are economic. They usually do not pay much attention to the goals of minimizing water consumption. This study attempted to investigate the addition of water minimizing goal and setting restrictions on the supply of water to the multiple objectives of farmers. Also, it deals with the impact of this practice on cropping patterns, water use and gross income of farmers. To achieve the goal, a fuzzy multi-objective programming with nonlinear membership function (hyperbolic tangent) was used. The data was collected out of questionnaires filed by 130 farmers of Chenaran (Khorasan Razavi province) using the random cluster sampling in 2012-2013 crop year. The farmers were divided into three homogenous groups, based on the cultivation area: less than 8 hectares, from 8 to 24 hectares and more than 24 hectares. Then model optimized for each of the three groups was based on the goals of profit maximization, minimization of capital and maximization of labor. Then by adding water minimization to the objectives, effects of these changes were evaluated. The results showed that by entering the water to the objectives of farmers in groups 1 and 3, water consumption was reduced. However, it did not change in Group 2. Also in all 3 groups, onions and cucumber cultivated area was decreased. In contrast, the area under wheat cultivation increased, although this would reduce the income of farmers in all 3 groups. The results also showed that with policy of restrictions on water supply in addition to changing cropping patterns and decrease in income, the total cultivated area will decrease in all 3 groups.

Nowadays, due to the limited existing resources of the country, the use of modern technologies has an important role in saving inputs consumption, increasing productivity and gaining a comparative advantage in agricultural production. In this regard, biotechnology has particular importance. Considering the importance of the issue and the lack of study about the effect of applying biological technologies in comparative advantage of agricultural production, so this research to determine indexes comparative advantage of production with biotechnology entry in the field of wheat and corn production in Fars Province is done. Accordingly, based on available information from variety biological fertilizers and its different combinations with chemical fertilizer the indexes of comparative advantage including DRC, SCB and NSP in 1392 are calculated in several scenarios. The results indicate that the use of bio fertilizer as a supplement or replacement with part of chemical fertilizer (50% & 100%) will improve the comparative advantage indicators, so that the DRC index of wheat reduced from1/13 in scenario (1) to 0/49 in scenario (4). Also about corn the combination of bio-fertilizer with chemical fertilizer leads to decrease DRC index from 0/28 in scenario (1) to 0/15 in scenario (4). Also SCB and NSP indexes have shown the comparative advantage improvement in wheat and corn production due to this replacement. Therefore, according to the results the use of biotechnology in consolidated management of nutrition will improve the changes in the production cost practically. So it is expected to be more economical to promote such technology in production process of agriculture.

The ravages of pistachios market structure in Iran has created numerous problems in the pricing and trading of this product. In this context, it is important to create a centralized market such as commodity exchange, that decreasing price volatility and as a result improving revenue and competitive conditions of suppliers are its consequences. In this study, one type of transportation model, which is based on maximizing export earnings and minimizing transportation cost, was used for evaluation of effects of the creation of pistachios exchange on competition of producing areas in the field of internal and external pistachios trade. according to the results of this research, under the existence of the commodity exchange, will be added to the number of applicants for the pistachios of Khorasan-Razavi, Yazd, and Semnan provinces, but instead Fars, Qom and Qazvin provinces will lose their some markets. Also, while the total exports of pistachios remains constant, but will make changes in the way of export and the exporter provinces.

Agriculture is mostly a risky activity in less developed countries and usually there is inefficiency associate with it. So, Simultaneous study of risk and inefficiency could lead into a more favorable outcome. This study was done to identify factors influencing risk and inefficiency of potato farms in Ardabil. The required data collected by questionnaire from 156 Ardebil potato farmers in 1391. To achieve the purpose, Kumbhakar (2002) and Jaenicke (2003) models that are based on Aigner et al (1977) and the Meeusen and Van Den Broeck (1977) frontier model, were estimated. According to the results, water does not affect production risk in the farms. Labor and machinery reduce production risk and seed increases it. Seed and labor increase the efficiency average and machines and water decrease it. Producers Gender does not affect the efficiency average and efficiency variance. Therefore, increased using of labor for risk reducing and efficiency increasing in these units is recommended.

Given the importance of agriculture and energy consumption in this sector, this study with studying the producer supports and energy intensity, are looking for evaluating of past performance and solutions to improve future situation. For this purpose, in this study, time series models in 1981-2012 were performed to investigate the convergence of long-term between energy intensity and producer support policy. According to the data type the Johansen – Joselius cointegration method was used. The results showed that with the increase in government supports from agriculture producers, energy intensity declined. So that, in the long term for increasing a billion Rials in supports, the energy intensity will decrease 1. 87 *10-3 units. Based on the results, it is suggested that according to the targeted subsidy program, the Government pays its benefits to this sector in the fifth and sixth development programs with more aggressively pursue.

Since the agriculture sector is the largest custodian of the food supply, food production and food security, there is a need to increase the production in this sector which is subject to technology and mechanization level. Therefore, the this study aims to investigate the effect of agricultural mechanization coefficient on the food security of Iranian rural families in the period 1984-2013, using auto-regressive distributed lag method (ARDL). The results showed that the mechanization coefficient and per capita income variables had a positive impact on the food security of rural families in the long term, while the food price index variable had a negative impact on the food security of rural families in the long term. Hence, it is suggested that the government should support the importers of agricultural machinery against currency exchange rate fluctuations. Also, the use of technology is difficult due to the small and scattered farms in Iran. Therefore, localization and promotion of the capital-intensive technologies is proposed.

The importance of economic variables forecasting for policy makers and planners and firms is obvious. Therefore, in recent decades, several models have been developed. In the present study, the Oilcake import quantity predicted by using econometric Model and artificial neural network for 1400-1394. For this purpose, for predict and education network, the data of the 88-1348 and for test the accuracy of forecasts, the data of the 1393-1389 were used. The results showed that forward neural network compared to ARIMA and exponential smoothing method with fewer errors and better performance for predicting of Oilcake import. The results show that the Oilcake imports in 1394 compared to last year, has a 32% increase. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the amount of imported and domestic needs, be protectionist policies. Also, to control of the steep rise in Oilcake import, policy makers and planners would be necessary programs apply, including increased tariffs. The grants for the production and supply companies in the conversion process to oilcake can be used to increase the productivity and competitiveness of these products to be effective.

The main purpose of this study was to develop a theory with regard to limiting factors for organic crops consumption in Karaj County. In this regard, applying a grounded theory approach, limiting factors of organic crops use were investigated. Following theorizing steps, a model for limiting factors for organic crops consumption was developed. Applying a purposive snow ball, 30 experts in different agricultural sciences were interviewed to gather required data. Interviews were continued to reach the saturation point. Coding of data was conducted in three steps i. e. open coding, axis coding and selective coding, after interviews. In axial coding stage, paradigm model was developed considering the main phenomenon, strategies, casual conditions, intervening conditions and context. In this study "dimensions of limitation" was selected as the main phenomenon. "Ineffective political structure and decision making", "lack of appropriate performance and organizational believes", "lack of expert human resources", "weakness of supportive infrastructures", "lack of coherent laws and regulations" and " lack of effective informing structure" are Casual conditions that affect the main phenomenon i. e. "dimensions of limitation".

The purpose of this study was to evaluate agricultural experts’ awareness toward ‘ precision agriculture’ . In this regard, descriptive correlational research design was used. The target population of this study was consisted of agricultural experts of Jihade-agriculture Organizations in the Tehran province of Iran (N=153) that 115 subjects were studied. The main research instrument of this study was a questionnaire and its validity was checked by the panel of experts included faculty members of Agricultural Extension and Education and Mechanics of Agricultural Machinery Departments of Tarbiat Modares University and Agricultural Engineering Research Institute experts. Following the recommendations of them the instrument was revised. Also, the questionnaire’ s reliability was tested by calculating Cronbach’ s alpha and Kuder-Richardson formula 20 and their coefficients were 0. 91 and 0. 72. The results showed that the agricultural experts’ knowledge level was low to medium on ‘ precision agriculture’ . The highest level of knowledge was related to ‘ global positioning system’ (GPS), ‘ soil type sampling’ , ‘ yield monitoring’ , ‘ geographic information system’ (GIS), and ‘ aerial photography and satellite imaging’ . The results from correlation analysis indicated that there were significant relationships between knowledge level of experts on ‘ precision agriculture’ and age, work experience, as well as educational level. There were significant differences between knowledge levels of experts on ‘ precision agriculture’ in relation to interest in learning new technologies, informed from activities about ‘ precision agriculture’ , participation in the training classes, visit from research farms, and using the journal publications about ‘ precision agriculture’ .

The main purpose of this study was to investigate effective factors on sustainable utilization of forest in Lorestan Province forest settlements. This research is applicable and in the term of gathering data is descriptive-correlational research. The statistical population of this study was consisted of forest settlements in Lorestan province. Sample size was determined 210 people, using Cochran formula. The population were selected through cluster sampling in several stages, and interviewed by the questionnaire. Questionnaire Reliability and validity were confirmed through Cronbach alpha and supervisor and advisor professor. Finally, Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Correlation test results showed that there were significant and negative relationship between sustainable utilization of forest and variables including: age, the experience of agriculture, the experience of animal husbandry. There were significant and positive relationship between sustainable utilization of Forest and variables including: the amount of participation in agriculture activity, the amount of participation in animal husbandry activity, the number of days livestock presence in forest in one year, the amount of participation in forest management, the amount of knowledge and awareness about forest, the amount of accessibility to rural services and facilities, the amount of gained educations, the amount of formal organizations support of forest settlements and bioenvironmental attitude.

The aim of this study was to analyze managerial tasks and performance of Department’ s manager from the viewpoint of faculty members in Agricultural and Natural Resources Higher Education institutes in Khuzestan Province. A descriptive-correlational research method was used. Statistical population of the study consisted of faculty members at Khuzestan Ramin University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, faculty of Agriculture of Ahwaz Shahid Chamran University and faculty of Environment and Natural Resources of Behbahan Khatamolanbia University (N=148), in which 111 faculty members were selected by using stratified proportional sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Its validity was confirmed by a panel of agricultural extension and education experts. Reliability of the questionnaire was conducted using Cronbach’ s alpha (α =0/96). Data analysis was performed using the software SPSSwin16. The findings showed that from respondents' view managers monitoring and control functions were relatively undesirable at Khuzestan Ramin University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Also, managers' planning, organizing and evaluation functions were relatively undesirable in the faculty of Agriculture of Ahwaz Shahid Chamran University. In addition, the findings showed that in Environment and Natural Resources College of Behbahan Khatamolanbia University, functions of planning, organizing and human resources management were relatively desirable. Results of regression analyzes indicated that four factors including: personal characteristics, managerial skills, job satisfaction and work experience were explained a total of 54% of the variance in manager of departments’ function.

Promoting Farmers’ knowledge along with other production factors and facilities will lead farmers to achieve a desired and reasonable level in production process by properly and accurately benefiting from technology. This research investigated the effectiveness of extension education activities on promoting tobacco growers' knowledge level in Mazandaran province. The study adopted a descriptive-correlational approach as its methodology. The statistical population of this research consisted of 1500 tobacco growers of Mazandaran province, and based on Morgan table, 306 people were randomly selected through proportional stratified sampling. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts, and its reliability was measured through Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0. 77 to 0. 94. The results showed that effectiveness of extension education activities on promoting tobacco growers' knowledge level is excellent 12%, good 28. 2%, medium 39. 4% and weak 20. 5%. The most effective factor on effectiveness of extension education activities on promoting tobacco growers' knowledge level was extension-education activities content with path coefficient of 0. 325. In addition, extensioneducation activities compatibility with educational need was also effective on effectiveness of extension education activities on promoting tobacco growers' knowledge level with the path coefficient of 0. 314.

Turnaround Leaders uses personal abilities to promote the ideals of others and to lead individuals and organizations to the upper point of the entrepreneurial performance. The present study was conducted to investigate the role of turnaround leadership on organization's entrepreneurial orientation of Agricultural Jihad Organization of Isfahan Province. Statistical population of the study consisted of 226 experts that the number of 140 persons was selected, using Krejcie and Morgan table and by simple random sampling technique. Methods of data collection based on a standard questionnaire leadership style MLQ and entrepreneurial orientation Dess and Lumpkin (2005). SPSS version20 was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the use of turnaround leadership in agriculture Jihad organization of Isfahan province and also, the state of this organization in terms of turnaround leadership were higher than the average. Entrepreneurial orientation of studied experts was lower than the average level. The results indicated a positive and significant effect of turnaround leadership on entrepreneurial orientation (EO). According to results, "Idealized Influence" had greater predictive power in determining the level of entrepreneurial orientation of Jihad Agriculture Organization experts.

Industrial revolution occurrence and changing humans relationship toward nature, has been caused numerous environmental problems for human. Due to abundance those problems, the ‘ environmental aesthetics’ dimension has been less considered, compared with the other aspects. The purpose of this research was to investigate affective components on rural people's environmental aesthetics attitude in Miandoab Township, Iran. This research is a casual-correlative research that was fulfilled using a survey technique as a research method. Statistical population was rural people (N=121149) in Miandoab township that 136 people was selected as a sample by Cochran test and stratified random sampling method (0. 63≤ α ≤ 0. 94). The research instrument was a questionnaire, which its validity confirmed by a panel of agricultural extension and education experts and its reliability was calculated by using a pilot test and Cronbach's Alpha. Findings revealed that there were significant association between ‘ environmental aesthetics attitude’ and ‘ aesthetics knowledge’ , ‘ spirituality and ethics’ , and ‘ environment factor’ . Also, analysis results showed that environmental knowledge has highest ability to anticipation of environmental aesthetics attitude (β =0. 632). In this regard, regression analysis showed that independent variables could explain 59. 6 percent of environmental aesthetics attitude variance. Based on the findings, some executive recommendations had been presented at the end of the article.

Nowadays, readiness for self-directing learning in order to improve in higher education graduate student’ s life-long learning skills is emphasized. The purpose of this study was to analyse relationship between educational service quality and self-directed learning skills among the agricultural students of Tarbiat ModaresUniversity. Research was descriptive-correlation and survey method was used. Statistical population consisted of student of Tarbiat Modares University in 2011-2012 academic year (N=414). Using Krejcie and Morgan’ s (1970) table and stratified random sampling technique 210 students were selected as sample (n=210). Questionnaire was the main tool for data collectin. Face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel expertof agricultural extension and education and its reliability was determined by calculating Cronbach’ s alpha for educational service quality and self-directed learning lkills 0. 80 and 0. 78 respectively. Findings showed that among self-directed learning skills, communication skill and learning activities had highest and lowest priorities, respectively. Also, among educational service quality, empathy and physical conditions components had highest and lowest priorities, respectively. Correlation results showed that there were positive and significant correlation between three components of educational service quality (responsibility, assurance and empathy) and self-directed learning skills. Multiple regression results showed that these three variables could explained 56 percent of variance of self-directed learning skills.

Increasing and sustainable supply of foods, food security and promotion of agricultural productivity needs efficiency increasing and the reforming of management structure and farmers optimization. Those need essential changes on knowledge, attitude and skill of farmers. Also, environmental, economical, and social potentials are the empowerment factors of farmers. The aim of this research is to analyze the Influential Factors on Farmer’ s Empowerment. The research method is analytical and explanatory. Data were gathered through questionnaire from inhabitant farmers on rural region of Ardabil province. The total number of farmer producers of Ardabil province was estimated 109187. 256 farmers selected as a sample by Cochran test. The questionnaire validity confirmed by views of agricultural experts and its reliability was calculated by using Cronbach's Alpha (=. 75). The results of path analysis show that social factor with 0. 44 percent and economical factor 0. 36 percent have the most influence of farmers’ empowerment. After, there is the environmental factor with 0. 35 percent.

Due to agriculture sector are supported in production, consumption and food security, both developed and developing countries around the world with different ways support the agricultural sector. In this study, the effect of policies supporting consumer and supporting producer on food security in IRAN in template VECM in periods of 1989-2013 were investigated. Policies of supporting consumer and supporting producer agriculture sector has significant and positive effects on food security index, so that for every unit percent increase in the consumer support, food security index value will increase by 0, 228. In fact, if the elasticity coefficient is expressed, in exchange for a percentage increase in percentage of consumer supporting, food security index will be increasing 0. 06 percent. With one unit increase producer supporting, food security index increasing 0. 07 percent. Namely for every increase in percentage for producer supporting, food security index increased 0. 01 percent. ECM coefficient in the present project is equal-0. 489, indicates that 48. 9 percent of error will be lost in period of imbalance. The consumer protection policies targeted support to producer to increase production in order to improve productivity and food security essential.