Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development
Year:2000 | Volume:8 | Issue:2 (30)|Papers Count:19

In estimating aggregate production function, we usually use capital stock and labour force. One of the important inputs which it's ignorance in production function led to serious bias in estimating coefficients of production, is energy input. For calculating potential product consistent with the explanation of production function which should be substituted with current production, we use "real trend" and "trend line between adjusted peaks" methods. As regards capitalstock figures, it should be mentioned that the required data were obtained from Amini, Nahavandi and Saffaripour's essay (1376) using Kiani – Boghazian method (1376) as well as updating the estimated data. For the employment figures, annual estimations of Amini, Nahavandi & Saffaripour were used and for their substitution in production function we have changed the employment to full employment. At the end we see that energy factor together with two important factors of production, labour force and capital stock, is more important and has direct impact on production level. This holds true not only for the agricultural sector but for the whole economy, oil & gas, industry & mining and service sector, as well.

The main objective of the present investigation was to determine the optimum and nearly optimum farm plans. Also,  to study the effects of changing the acreage of sunflower on the cropping pattern and income of farmers. Data were collected from crop farmers of Ramjerd district in Fars province. Modeling to generate alternative method was used to generate various farm plans for the representative farms. The results indicated that optimal and nearly optimal farm plans with sunflower have higher income compared with the present situation.Also; results demonstrated the flexibility of the MGA method in decision making.

Date is one of the major horticultural products and dried fruits in Iran, especially in Bushehr (Dashtestan) province which has extended cultivated areas as well as remarkable production. Due to the importance of its production, cultivated areas as well as employment generating activities, the need for more study and research in this regard is quite vivid. The objective of this research is an economic evaluation of drainage system and its impact on the productivity of factors of date production. To this end, 137 questionnaire forms were completed by farmers, using two stage cluster sampling method. All the farmers under study were divided into two groups, with and without drainage system. By using Cobb-Dougles production function method, factors productivity were estimated using correlated ordinary least squares (COLS). Results indicated that average and marginal productivity of input in the first group (with drainage systems) is more than the second group (without drainage system). Results relating to the drainage system indicate that this system as a kind of technological innovation has positive impact on the production and causes intercept and slope of production function to be changed. By decompositon of the model, the difference in per hectare productivity is estimated as 25.79 percent. From that percentage the share of using drainage system (technology chagne) are 23.92 percent and remaining 1.87 percent is due to production factors.

From agronomic point of view southern part of Khorasan is not suitable for growing strategic crops be due to the limited annual rainfall and water resources. However, this part of province has a great potential the growing of some special local crops. Barberry and saffron are good examples of such crops so that south Khorasan produces approximately all the barberry and major part of saffron in the country. In this research the importance of barberry production and its impact on employment, generating activities, as well as income and socio-economic development of the region has been studied. It was concluded that allocating more resources to the production of barberry and such as increasing acreage of this crop together with more investment in related industries can improve and accelerate socio-economic development in the deprived regions of south Khorasan.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of land smallness and fragmentation under irrigated wheat on production costs, using West Azarbayjan data. The results showed that farm size and fragmentation have affected production costs of small irrigated wheat producers. Costs had positive relation with fragmentation and negative relation with size under cultivation.

Undeniable significance of water and its crucial role in the economic life of human beings has long attracted attention for searching ways and means for the conservation and better utilization of the water resources. This article, tries to introduce causatic variables which would change marginal costs of water supply as well as estimating the required function and identifying the independent variables that would affect the supply change. In this research, cross-section and time series data are used and required information were obtained through questionnaires, interviews, and library research. To estimate the functions, OLS technique were used. The results of study indicated that price of inputs such as labor and capital along with price of water, explains major part of changes in the supply of water.Another finding is that elasticity of price will decrease drastically in the future.

Honeybee have various products in addition to the vital role in increasing agricultural products through pollination which affect the environmental preservation of the ecosystem. Reports from different countries suggest that the role of honeybee in increasing agricultural production is 69-143 times more than its direct produce (honey yeilds) In 1997 the result of various studies in Iran showed that the impact of honeybee pollination on agricultural products is about 11000 billion rials whereas in the same year the honey yields valued 123 billion rials in the honeybee industry. In other words the role of honeybee in increasing agricultural products is 90 times more than the direct produce of the honeybee colonies, and this accounts about 4 percent of the value of gross national production (G.N.P.) of Iran. Regarding the significant role of honeybee pollination in the preservation of ecosystem it is necessary to protect related industries and to improve the knowledge of farmers for the application of honeybee colonies in their farms and plantations.

The country's pastures and range lands with the total areas of 90 hectares are the most vital requirement for sustainable environmental development, as Well as ecological balance, and are considered as an infra-structure for agriculture. Common ownership of these resources and its overgrazing by the cattles raised by tribes and rural people, have led to the depletion of these vital assests. During the five years development plans, in order to persuade the cattle raisers to participate in the preservation and rehabilitation of pastures, it was tried to transfer these resources to the above mentioned groups, thereby creating a sense of ownership that would help their participation in that program. Therefore, in the framwork of range land management projects, the range lands were given to the rural and tribal livestock raisers range for a period of 30 years. Fars province is a pioneer province for the implementation of pastures projects. A good numbers of these projects are being implemented in Mamasani, with an area of more than 200 thousands hectares. In this study all the projects implemented during the years 1371 to 1376,consisting of 20 projects, have been evaluated from economic point of view. In this evaluation internal rate of returns, as well as cost benefit analysis have been used. Results of study indicated that, 70 percent of the projects, on the basis of data presented, have economic justification. It can be concluded, as a whole, that investment in pastures and range lands rehabilitaion is justified from economic view point, and profitability of these projects are such that private sector investment can be encouraged in this regard.

Fars province with more than 30 thousand hectares of fig growing areas ranks first in Iran. About 95% of dried fig of Iran is produced in this province. The main purpose of this study was to measure the level of technical efficiency of fig producers. A sample of 191 producers in the main fig growing areas of Estahban, Jahrom, Kazeroon and Neiriz was selected by stratified random sampling method. Data were then collected through interviews for farming year of 1995-96. Technical efficiency of fig producers were estimated using both translog and transcendental stochastic frontier production functions. Also, effects of various social and economical factors were then studied on the level of producers technical efficiencies. Based on the results of this study, it was found that average technical efficiencies for fig growers of Estahban, Kazeroon and Neiriz were 65.7, 80.2 and 63.7% respectively. In Jahrom, however, technical efficiency was not measurable. Besides, fig growing area, level of farmers education and number of caprification have positive impacts on the level of technical efficiency.

East Azarbayjan of Iran was purposively selected as a specific area for this study. This province has a high potential for increaseng livestock production and productivity. Research provides technologies that helps production and productivity increase to be achieved, but technologies need to be transfered to farmers to ensure its impact. To study adoption level of dairy husbandry technologies and factors associated with adoption behaviour of livestock owners in dairy husbandry enterprises, a sample of 154 farmers from a total of eight villages,- four villages from high level plain areas and four villages from low level plain areas - were selected, using "stratified two - stage random sampling" method. Data were collected by filling out questionnaires,  that had been tested before. The criteria like frequencies in terms of number and percentage, mean, product moment correlation were calculated. Also t-test and multiple regression analysis were used for the analysis of data. The results of study revealed that the majority of the two groups of livestock owners (59.09%) belonged to medium level of adoption behaviour, followed by 22.75 and 18.18 percent livestock owners belonging to high and low level of adoption behaviour respectively as regards dairy husbandry technologies. Information input, information output, farmer - intrasystem communication, farmer - researcher communication, farmer- extensionist communication, availability of input facilities and overall technical knowledge about dairy husbandry technologies had positive and highly significant relationship (p<0.01) with overall adoption behaviour of livestock owners to dairy husbandry technologies.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how members of rural girls' clubs respond to their training needs. In this regard, the most important of their training needs in agricultural, social and technico-educational domains were examined. The design of study was a survey research. The population consisted of members of rural girls' clubs at Kohkiloyeh and Boyerahmad province. The sample consisted all of club members. Therefore, 222 members of 3 clubs were included in the sample. In this study questionnaires were used to collect data. The questionnaires were examined by five specialist professors to determine suitability of the questions and to establish face validity of instrument. A pilot study was conducted by 30 members who were not in the sample, and Cronbach Alpha coefficient was calculated for determining internal consistency of the questionnaire. Alpha coefficient for different questions were 0.79 to 0.95. For the calculation and analysis of data SPSS/PC was used. Statistical methods used in this study were mean, frequency count and distributions, t-test, one - way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression. Members' age and their satisfaction were found to be significantly correlated with their technico-educational needs. The correlation between training needs of members in agricultural and social domains was positive and significant. The correlation between training needs of members in agricultural and technico-educational domains was positive and significant, too. Stepwise multiple regression analysis determined the most important training needs in agricultural, social and technico-educational domains as well.The study should be replicated periodically to keep abreast of any changes in club members perceptions of the training needs. The result of similar studies in other rural girls' clubs could be useful as an important tool for modifying and changing rural club programs.

Sustainable economic development requires optimal utilization of the production resources. Underutilization of these resources would lead to the inefficiencies of production capacities. However evidences indicate that there is not proper utilization of this factor and unemployment figure. In Khorasan province as well as throughout the country is now a two digit figure it is believed that future economic development would largely depend upon changes in the existing labour market. Therefore this study would examine the rate of employment and unemployment and determine the optimal employment in different sub-sectors of the Khorasan province during the third development plan by using linear programming model and would ultimately estimate the optimum amount of investment and its employment generating impacts as well. The results of study indicate that an increase in the investment of this sector would not nece ssarily lead to an increase in employment, due to some structural restrictions.

In recent years and during the life of new Iranian government, Iran has opened up towards the rest of the world and made considerable progress towards a market economy. The process challenges the institutional capacity of the country. In this context, of course, the reorganization of the banking system is central. A system that despite being a century old, due to the flawed interest rate structure, the considerable repayment problems and the general lack of banking profitability, and its overall poor functioning and deficiencies, now is unable to efficiently intermediate financial resources. For an Iranian banker who sincerely hopes that his nation will take advantage of the country's growth potential, banking on the future potentials should be based on tomorrow's banking ideas. For private banking in future, the problem lingers on the legacy of the old structure, at least in countries like ours. The business of private banking commonly involves looking after high net worth individuals who first and for most seek confidentiality. These individual investors expect very attractive financial and related services and products. They may be both within the mainland of a country or outside, e.g., an offshore, where both bank have established corporations veiled in secrecy laws. In this type of banking, future banking or banking for tomorrow mainly involves ways and means of providing the required secrecy, and the methods of compensating these high net worth clients. In this article, I will provide the framework for future operation of banks as related to private banking, and try to delineate the future trends in this respect. Banks are aware of the importance of customer data to their continued existence. In future, their ability to provide innovative products and services to private clients will concentrate on the issue they are most interested in: privacy.

Rainfall is known as one of the main factors for the soil erosion. This process has been responsible for the damage of many slopes in different parts of the country, which have an agricultural usage. Therefore identification and utilization of some practical methods of soil erosion control is very necessary since these methods directly affect the agricultural development. In this paper, drainage system, geosynthetics, as well as vegetation are examined as some practical methods for the soil erosion controls. As regards the use of a drainage system, the different aspects of it are presented in the paper. In terms of the use of geosynthetics for soil erosion control, the use of geocells, geomats and biomats are briefly discussed. Furthermore, the vegetation effects on erosion control are mentioned from a hydrological and a mechanical point of view. In addition, different aspects of the effect of soil erosion control on economic development are also evaluated. Some environmental and geo-environmental aspects of soil erosion control are addressed and discussed from an engineering and agricultural point of view, as well.