Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Year:2018 | Volume:49 | Issue:2 |Papers Count:12

One of the important aspects of sustainable land management is conservation agriculture, principles of tillage and land preparation for planting product. The overall goal of conservation agriculture is better use of agricultural resources through improved management of soil resources, water and biological resources in general, so that minimizing the use of external inputs. Therefore considering that planners and policy makers in their decisions always rely on cost-benefit analyses, and these analyses are rely on quantitative and monetary analyses. So this study has been done with the purpose of financial evaluation of conservation agriculture application in wheat production in Fars province. For this purpose, the necessary information of financial evaluation has been collected through field studies and completed of 122 questionnaires and interviews in the crop year 1392. Based on the financial evaluation results, on average in the regions studied, gross profit per hectare of conservation cultivation of wheat has been 2. 5 times of gross profit of conventional cultivation per hectare of wheat which are on the one hand due to higher crop yields in conservation technology and on the other hand, due to the low costs which are paid for planting a hectare of wheat in the mentioned system. Base on the results, estimated parameters of cost function indicated that conservation technology adoption could reduce total cost to 36 percent. In other word changing technology from conventional to conservation agriculture in studying region on average led to save 8383 thousand Rials per hectare in wheat production cost. Therefore, it is expected that promotion of such technologies could help the production process in the agricultural sector to be more economical

Fish is considered as a complete food source in terms of having high-quality protein and fat and also, abundance of minerals and vitamins in it. This study investigate behavior of consumers at the fish market (farmed, seafood and fillets fish) on the basis of Lexicographic preferences. Consumers divided into two categories of deontologist and consequentialist. To achieve the study objectives, a questionnaire was used in 2015 in Mazandaran. The results show that consumer behaviors of deontologist are different form consequentialist and the average income elasticity of deontologist is 1. 31 and for consequentialist is 1. 16 so fish in both groups is luxury food. Price elasticity of sea fish for people deontologist's people is-0. 59 and for Consequentialist is-0. 63. Due to the low cost of the price elasticity of deontologist to consequentialist, it appears that in order to consumption pattern gets involved in use price policy is not enough only and policies should be reform and greater attention to product quality and diversifying must be considered.

Extraction from underground waters more than natural discharge of watershed has led to balance deficit and lowering level of water tables and water shortage in many regions. The current research mainly aims to estimate economic and environmental consequences of extraction from underground waters in Ardakan County. In order to determine final personal cost of consumers, sum of annual pumping costs and sum of well drilling costs were calculated 63 billion and 290 billion Rials respectively. In section of additional costs due to extraction, the sum of protective value of underground waters was estimated 22 billion Rials in Ardakan County, using conditional valuation and a two-dimensional technique. The cost for reducing production of farming crops as a part of additional costs caused by extraction was estimated 1’ 211 billion Rials with respect to statistics of years i. e. 1987-2016. Much difference between additional cost of extraction and personal cost of consumers may be useful in changing attitude of the officials and sectors of industry and agriculture as the greatest consumers of water supplies for optimal consumption of subterranean water supplies. Also, sum of cost for extraction from underground waters (1’ 586 billion Rials) contribute to the government and policymakers to justify alternative for water transfer in this zone.

Environmental damage caused by agricultural activities has always been a concern for policy makers. Hence, the estimate of the economic value of the damages is very important. The object of this study was to estimate the value of environmental damage of water salinity in Iran’ s wheat production in 1999 to 2012. For this purpose, a spatial output distance function has been developed. The results showed that the share of damage due to water salinity was 6. 4% of wheat price. 16 percent of this damage was due to adjacency of regions. Also, the growth rate of shadow price of salinity was higher than the price of wheat during the period, which showed the importance of the environmental damage. Determining the shadow price of environmental pollutants can be considered to policy maker for determining the real price of wheat and sustainable cultivation in each province.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of entrepreneurial education components on developing entrepreneurial skills of agricultural students. The statistical population of the study consisted of 1188 agricultural graduate students at university college of Agricultural and Natural Resources, University of Tehran. According to the Krejcie and Morgan table, a sample of 291 students was selected using stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Face validity of the questionnaire confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity and composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after corrections (for the components of entrepreneurial education were 0. 714 to 0. 881 and for entrepreneurial skills were 0. 803 to 0. 860). The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results showed that four factors of content, teaching method, teachers’ competencies and students’ characteristics had positive and significant effects on dependent variable. These factors explained about 51 percent of variances of developing students’ entrepreneurial skills.

The future of organic agriculture, to a large extent, depends on the consumer demand and their motive for paying extra prices for organic foods and indeed, consumers play a pivotal role in the future investments on organic farming. Growth in the consumer demand for friendly, “ green” or chemical-free food products, has led to the expansion of organic farms which have developed as a part of wider organic movement incorporating producers, manufacturers and consumers. Consequently, the choices of the consumers are as important as the producers through the whole chain of organic food production. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that lead people to use such products is thus critically important. The aim of the study was to explore the influence of constructs of the Health Beliefs Model on willingness to use organic foods using a multistage, random sample of households (n= 204) in a survey conducted in Iran. Structural Equation modelling showed that perceived benefits and Orientation to health are significant predictors of willingness regarding the use of organic fruits. These variables can predict nearly 58% variance of consumer willingness to use organic fruits.

Soil erosion is a major problem and a serious obstacle for achieving sustainable agriculture. This problem is more acute in Sloping lands. Planting trees and gardening is one of the methods of soil conservation in these lands. The aim of this research was to investigate the factors influencing adoption of gardening in sloping lands of Minoodasht and Galikesh counties in Golestan province. The descriptive-correlation research method was used. The study population consisted of all farmers with at least one hectare in Sloping lands. They have been targeted group in Land Use Change Plan in 2005 through 2010 (N= 1985). Cluster random sampling method was used in which 145 farmers from 25 villages were selected. The sample size was estimated using Cochran formula. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. Face validity of questionnaire was confirmed by university faculty members and experts’ viewpoint of agriculture departments in two city of Minoodasht and Galikesh. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by conducting a pilot study and estimating Cronbach’ s alpha coefficient for the indicators of risk-taking (0. 65), foresight (0. 75) and attitude towards soil conservation (0. 87). Results showed that adopter and non-adopter of gardening in sloping lands are different significantly in terms of number of land plots, level of mechanization, amount of owned land area, farm income, governmental assistance, community participation, attitude towards soil conservation, knowledge about soil conservation, foresight and level of education. In all mentioned variables, the mean scores of adopters were more than non-adopters except foresight. Furthermore, governmental assistance, number of land plots and farm income are the best explanatory variables in adoption of gardening in sloping lands.

The main purpose of this descriptive-correlative study was to investigate the relationships between individual entrepreneurial orientation, individual learning, creativity with job performance. The mediating roles of individual learning and entrepreneurial orientation were analyzed. The statistical population of this research consisted of 635 agricultural experts of organization of Jihad-e Agriculture in Hamedan Province (N=365). According to Cochran's formula, a sample of 242 experts was chosen through random stratified sampling method. Data was collected using four standardized self-administered scales including individual learning scale (Sujan et al., 1994)), creativity scale (Tierney et al., 1999), individual entrepreneurial orientation scale (Bolton & Lane, 2012) and individual performance scale (Staples et al., 1999). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were investigated using confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’ s alpha coefficient respectively (. 83≥ α ≥ . 76). Structural equation modeling and bootstrap procedure were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that individual learning was significantly related to job performance and it mediated the entrepreneurial orientation-job performance relationship. In addition, creativity was significantly related to entrepreneurial orientation and job performance. Drawing on the findings, the managers and leaders of the organization can focus on the individual learning mechanism and creativity to improve employees’ entrepreneurial orientation and thereby fostering their job performance.

The present study examined the effects of the quality of life on the purchase intention of consumers in the city of Tabriz. A statistical sample of 224 individuals was chosen based on stratified random sampling and Cochran's formula. Data were gathered through field study and completing World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) in 2017. In order to understand the consumer’ s preference for purchasing organic or conventional cucumbers, choice experiment method (CEM) was used and to examine the relationships between variables, the structural equation modeling was applied. Findings indicate that physical health, psychological health and environmental health variables are able to explain 52% of the variation in the behavioral intentions with regard to purchasing organic food. Also, social relationship variable had no significant effects on predicting the purchase intention of consumers. Consumer’ s preferences showed 77. 2% selected the organic cucumbers and 22. 8% selected the conventional cucumbers as their first choice. Based on the t-test results, in the individuals that have selected the organic cucumbers as their first choice, the total average of quality of life is much more than those who selected the conventional cucumbers. Therefore, improving consumer's quality of life in three aspects of physical health, psychological health and environmental health is suggested to encourage them to purchase organic food.

The main purpose of this research was to study the effects of knowledge, attitudes and satisfaction of greenhouse owners cooperative members in Pakdasht County on sustainability of Greenhouses. This paper was a descriptive study and the target population consisted of vegetable greenhouse owners whose were members of cooperatives (N=340) in Pakdasht county. Using a Cochran formula, the sample size determined 188 people and data collected through completely random sampling method. The main research tool was a questionnaire which its validity confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability approved by Cronbach's alpha coefficients, CR and AVE for knowledge, attitudes and satisfaction scales. The data in both descriptive and analytical statistics were analyzed by SPSS and Lisrel software. Results of structural equation modeling showed that variables of knowledge, attitudes and satisfaction of greenhouse owners had positive and significant effects on sustainability level of greenhouses. Finally, after analyzing the direct and in

Identifying institutional actors and assessing their interactions are the necessary requirements for establishing a pluralistic extension and education system. This study assessed the interaction status of institutions performing extension and education programs in Kerman Province, using social network analysis. In first phase, 51 governmental, private, non-profit and profit institutes identified through archival research, direct observation and unstructured interviews with 163 experts and key informants related to agricultural extension and education programs; in the second phase to analyze the structure of relationship patterns among the institutional actors, social network analysis approach was applied to six interacted networks (technical experts, implementing participatory projects, scientific research and advising, technical supporting, financial supporting and political effects). The results showed that current dynamic institutional network of agricultural extension and education programs in Kerman Province is really poor in terms of organic interactions and communications among all actors. Hence, there is an unbalanced authority between governmental and non-governmental organizations in current institutional networks; so that private, non-profit and profit organizations have lower authority, influence and power of control in policy making process than public organizations, and then they are mainly neglected in policy making, management, decision making process of agricultural extension and education programs. Based on the results, it can be concluded that agricultural extension and education system in Kerman Province is “ budget-oriented” rather than being “ farmer-oriented” , “ villager-oriented” or “ user-oriented” .

The purpose of this study is to identifying effective components in transformation agricultural extension system in Iran, that using mixed-method approach which was carried out in four steps. In the first step of the study, the components of transformative agricultural extension system in some countries (15 countries) were examined by using meta-synthesis of qualitative research methods. In this step 11 components were extracted that included centralization, privatization, extended information technology, demand-driven, consultative services, pluralistic extension, strengthening interaction between extension and research centers, policy reform, environmental support, knowledge management and increasing coverage of rural areas. Second step was conducted by using the Delphi technique and viewpoint of experts of the agricultural extension organization and faculty members in agricultural college in Tehran, TarbiyatModares and Shiraz (N= 55) and the agreementsof this target population about identified effective components in step one, was obtained. The results of this step showed that the components of the strengthening of interaction between extension & research, policy reform, pluralistic extension, decentralization and investment, there were more than 90 percent agreements. In the third step, current situation of agricultural extension system was analyzed by experts of agricultural extension organization by using quantitative method and it was determined that the current system of agricultural extension in Iran, considered in decentralization, privatization and strengthening of interaction, more than other components of interest. Finally, in the fourth step, by integration of three previous steps, theory of transformational agricultural extension system based on Strauss and Corbin model, by using qualitative method was obtained.