Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development
Year:2019 | Volume:26 | Issue:104 |Papers Count:15

In this study, the index of producer supports was investigated among the development programs in period 1989-2011. Then self-sufficiency index in chicken meat during this period was calculated and its properties were evaluated. In this study the main challenge is whether the producers’ support in Iran will lead to improvements in production and self-sufficiency coefficients or not. For this purpose the variables stationary was investigated for estimating self-sufficiency model and after determining the optimal lag of self-sufficiency and Producer Support Estimate (PSE), then Granger causality test and finally the VAR model were estimated. The results showed that changes in the level of self-sufficiency index of chicken meat in the short term in each period is dependent on the support of the producers of chicken meat in the previous period. The estimated coefficient of PSE showed that in short term, PSE index of chicken meat producers has not been a suitable efficiency in changes of self-sufficiency index. The results of impulse response function showed that the effects of shocks to self-sufficiency index due to changes support policies in different periods is varied and this effect will be adjusted after seven periods.

There are different approaches for measuring the food security situation which one of them is estimation of coping strategy index (CSI). In this study, the level of food security of 267 rural households of Gorgan was investigated using the Food Security Strategy Index. In addition, factors affecting food security determined with using a logit model. Values of CSI shows that 17. 60% of households are in food security condition and rest of them experiencing different level of food insecurity. Results of K Mean test indicate that 3. 75% of households are in light food insecurity condition, 52. 80% are in average food insecurity condition and 25. 85% are in acute food security condition. Results of logit model showed that annual income, employment condition and age of household head have a negative impact and number of children has a positive impact on level of food insecurity. Therefore, improving the income and employment of households will have important and significant effects on the improvement of food security, and the emphasis and attention of the authorities on this economic factor can be very useful.

There are different approaches for measuring the food security situation which one of them is estimation of coping strategy index (CSI). In this study, the level of food security of 267 rural households of Gorgan was investigated using the Food Security Strategy Index. In addition, factors affecting food security determined with using a logit model. Values of CSI shows that 17. 60% of households are in food security condition and rest of them experiencing different level of food insecurity. Results of K Mean test indicate that 3. 75% of households are in light food insecurity condition, 52. 80% are in average food insecurity condition and 25. 85% are in acute food security condition. Results of logit model showed that annual income, employment condition and age of household head have a negative impact and number of children has a positive impact on level of food insecurity. Therefore, improving the income and employment of households will have important and significant effects on the improvement of food security, and the emphasis and attention of the authorities on this economic factor can be very useful.

This study has considered the factors regarding the willingness to pay weather-based index insurance of apple gardeners of Damavand county in the proposed plan. For this purpose, Logit and Tobit models were used. Required information were collected through interviews and completing questionnaires of 307 gardeners of Damavand region by stratified random sampling with suitable assigning. Results of Logit model showed that factors such as education level, garden area, using current insurance, garden construction region, familiarity with weather-based index insurance and the type of gardener activity have a positive and significant effect, and gardeners' satisfaction of the current insurance has a negative effect on the acceptance probability of the proposed plan of weather-based index insurance. The average willingness to pay apple gardeners' premium in Damavand county has been calculated as 7900 thousand Rials per hectare. Also, the results of Tobit model indicated that the level of education, garden area, using the current insurance, the location of garden construction, the level of familiarity with weather-based index insurance, and the type of gardener activity have a positive effect on the level of willingness to pay insurance premium of apple gardeners. Since such factors as the gardener's education level and his knowledge about the weather-based index insurance has a positive and significant impact on acceptability probability of the weather-based index insurance and willingness to pay premium, Thus, to introduce the weather-based index insurance and offer the advantages and shortcomings of current insurance system and weather-based index insurance, it is suggested that agricultural insurance fund provides full information for gardeners to improve their consciousness level and provide a public knowledge before this proposed plan is implemented.

Agricultural processing industries are an integral part of industry and agriculture, hence its development have a high priority in value chain of agricultural production. The present study identifies the strategies for the development of the value chain of pomegranate using SWOT and QSPM. The results showed that the “ high area under cultivation of ​ ​ pomegranates” is the most important strength, "small and scattered pomegranate gardens" is the most significant weakness; "the potential of integrated agricultural land and orchards" is the most important opportunity, and "implementation of the targeted subsidy plan and the lack of willingness of youth to be a worker" is the most important threat of development of the pomegranate value chain in the Mahvelat county. With the help of a quantitative matrix, the strategies of maximum-maximum (SO) were selected. In this matrix, the strategy of "creating pomegranate processing industries" has priority for the production of processed products and more value added for farmers in order to develop of pomegranate value chain in Mahvelat county.

Reducing of the existing economic risk in agricultural activities and increasing security for investment is one of the important functions of agricultural insurance. This function is the main factor in creating tendency in private sector to improve investment in this sector. Insurance models and risk management methods of agricultural product, which are always designed and implemented by governments, are intended to compensate for any of these risks. In this study, first using a sample of 500 Rafsanjan pistachio producers, the willingness to pay for pistachio insurance was obtained by two methods of integration and proportional ratio, then the premium was determined and the factors affecting income insurance using Contingent Valuation Method and a one-dimensional dual questionnaire was investigated. The results of this study showed that there is a reverse relationship between the willingness to pay with the offers of premium rate, number of households, income, predictability of yield and increase in income compared to last year. But the education of farmers has a direct relationship with the willingness to pay. The average willingness to pay by farmers according to the income quarters derived from the completion of the questionnaire for the five income scenarios was 144, 447, 616, 729 and 907 million Rials per hectare. The average willingness to pay for income insurance for Rafsanjan pistachios was estimated 35734405 Rials per hectare. According to the results of the research, in order to reach the comprehensive plan of pistachio farmers' insurance, it is recommended that income insurance be considered.

The process of marketing had been affected by so many factors that named as marketing mix. Attending to economic value of saffron, lack of factors in marketing development of saffron affect the saffron market efficiency. Therefore, this study try to identifying the effective factors in saffron marketing process from the viewpoint of saffron growers with the aim of reducing the market inefficiencies and increasing the farmers profit. To achieve this objective, factors and marketing mixes using analytical-descriptive methods after designing a questionnaire and collecting data from the 362 saffron growers in Gonabad County were studied. The results show that all variables (four domains: 1. quality of production including 3 variable: the amount and quality of the product, knowledge and skills of producers, time and method of storage; 2. market conditions with 3 variables: supply and demand, competition and pricing; 3. the infrastructure and technology including of technology, packaging and branding and 4. legislative and policy making including legislation, institutionalization and financial support) have a significant effect on saffron marketing network from the viewpoint of saffron growers. The results of EQS model revealed that market conditions was the most important aspect and other aspects are production quality, technological and infrastructure, and the policy making respectively. According to the results, it can be stated that increasing the value added of this product with respect to the value of it as well as its utility for replace with some products in arid areas, it is essential need to strengthen other aspects of the marketing mix, especially financial support and policy making aspects.

As one of the most important productive inputs, workforce plays a significant role in the economy of any country. This factor has a dual role in economic planning so that on the one hand, it acts as a development agent, and serves as a development goal on the other hand. At present, one of the main issues of Iran's economy is unemployment and it consequences. Among the policies that seem to be effective are government support policies. Therefore, this research investigated the effect of producer and consumer support policies on agricultural employment in the period of 1981-2012 using Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results indicated that consumer and producer support policies in agricultural sector had a positive and significant effect on the employment of the agricultural sector in the country (Iran). Also, the results show that inflation and capital to cultivated area ratio during the studied period had a negative effect on employment in agriculture sector. These results disapprove the Phillips curve in Iran's agricultural sector and confirm the substitution relationship between capital and workforce in this sector. The coefficient of ECM model, which indicates the modulation rate of the short-term dynamic pattern toward long-term equilibrium, is equal to-0. 149 indicating that 15% of the imbalance error will be eliminated in each period.

It is very important to identify the relationship between business strategies, market competition and earnings management in beverage and food industries firms which are accepted in stock exchange market. The sample includes 12 manufacturing companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange during period the beginning of 2009 until the end of 2014. The statistical model is multiple linear regression using panel data. To examine the significance of the regression equations and the significance of regression coefficients F-test and t-test were applied, respectively. Based on the results of model estimation, there is a negative and significant relationship between business strategies (cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy) and real earnings management, and there isn’ t a significant relationship between the interaction of market competition and cost leadership strategy. Also the results showed that there is a negative and significant relationship between the interaction of market competition and differentiation strategy with the real earnings management.

Calculation of macroeconomic indicators for the agricultural sector in the System of National Accounts cannot represent the actual position of the sector in national economy. In this study the actual position of the agricultural sector through the calculation of its direct and indirect effects on the national economy of Iran was estimated using time series of 1991-2014. The results of this study showed that due to agriculture share in GDP (7 percent) and the its weighted contribution to economic growth (2. 68 percent) in the economic growth of the country (3. 08 percent), in terms of direct impact on the national economy, agriculture located in third place after industries and service groups. Indirect effect of agriculture in the national economy according to value added of backward and forward activities of agriculture is estimated 16 percent of GDP and based on value added of forward industries related to agriculture is calculated 3. 1 percent of GDP. The total share of agricultural value added based on constant prices between 2004-2014 has been about 22. 5 percent of the country's GDP directly and indirectly (total effect). According to the real position of the agricultural sector in the formulation of policies related to the country's development programs, it is suggested that estimating the annual employment, exports and value added of agricultural business as indirect effective indicators of agriculture in national economy should be considered by responsible institutions of economic statistics as a national statistical plan.