IRANIAN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND EDUCATION JOURNAL
Year:2021 | Volume:17 | Issue:2|Papers Count:16

The development of second crops in existing farms is one of the useful strategies to increase the productivity in agricultural sector. Guilan province has 230, 000 hectares of paddy lands, and it is possible to cultivate canola oilseed as a second crop in some parts of these lands. Canola oilseed cultivation, despite the needs of the country and its advantages, has been less welcomed by farmers in Guilan province. This descriptive and survey-based research was aimed to analyze the factors affecting the adoption of canola cultivation as second crop in the paddy fields of Guilan province. The statistical sample of the study was 94 paddy farmers adopting canola cultivation in Guilan province. A researcher-made questionnaire was designed based on two theoretical models of initial trust (ITM) and the unified theory of acceptance and usage of technology (UTAUT). The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by consulting experts and professors and its reliability was approved using a pre-test study and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0. 81). The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the proposed mixed model is a suitable model for the study of canola cultivation in Guilan province. Accordingly, it was concuded that the variables behavioral intention and initial trust had significant effects on the adoption behavior of paddy farmers. Based on the research findings, informational support through local experts and leaders, transfering more banking facilities, and strengthening of agricultural organizations are suggested as the main strategies to increase the adoption of canola cultivation.

The agricultural-dependent economy is vulnerable to the threatening factors associated with climate change and structural problems in the field of agriculture. Accordingly, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire to investigate if there are any relationship between rural economic and social sustainability and the likelihood to diversify the income sources. The population of interest consisted of rural households living in rural areas of Bavi County, Khuzestan Province (N=6670), of which a sample of 260 individuals, including household heads, using cluster sampling method was selected. The results showed that about 55% of the respondents lacked diversity of livelihoods,their economic and social sustainability was moderate to low, and demonstrated undesirable conditions. The results of the cross tabulations indicated a positive and significant relationship between their economic sustainability and likelihood of diversification among the villagers. Furthermore, comparing means of economic sustainability between those who diversified their livelihood and those who did not, revealed a statistically significant difference at 5% level of confidence. In other words, those occupied in more diverse ways and showed a more diverse sources of income experienced higher economic sustainability. Finally, investigation of the factors affecting the likelihood of diversification using logistic regression test demonstrated that the most important factors influencing the possibility of diversification included type of the land ownership, owning a car, attending in technical and vocational training courses. Accordingly, some educational and executive suggestions were offered to encourage diversification of the livelihood among rural people.

The main purpose of this research was to analyze the crisis situation of Lake Urmia (LU) catchment area and providing solutions for its sustainable management using DPSIR model. Participants in this research were key experts and informants in LU Rehabilitation Headquarters, Urmia University, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Regional Water Companies, Departments of Environmental Protection and Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Centers in three provinces of West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, and Kurdistan among which 14 cases were selected through purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews (individual and group) were used to collect the required data and data were analyzed in MAXQDA software using directional content analysis. The results of the research showed that the factors related to crisis situation of the LU catchment area were included 45 different indicators among which climate change (among the indicators related to the driving forces of the LU crisis), inappropriate policies and poor management of water resources (among the indicators related to pressure factors in the expansion of the crisis), reducing the water level of the lake (among the indicators related to the current situation), and increasing air pollution due to dust and stress on local communities (among the indicators related to the effects) had the highest priorities compared to the others. Moreover, according to the results of the study, it was found that the most important responses to resolving the crisis of LU and its sustainable management were included establishing the new organizations and institutions, carrying out projects related to groundwater balancing, increasing the capacity of NGOs, tightening enforcement of water protection laws, and increasing extension and training activities for farmers in the field water resources protection.

Nowadays, the most important feature of entrepreneurship behavior is known as the form of intellectual architecture named effectuation. In this regard, current empirical research attempts to use a machine algorithm to classify the levels of effectuation thinking among rural small business owners in the field of local poultry breeding in Sistan and Baluchestan province. To this end, 191 units out of 360 were sampled and studied. The main objective of this research was to find a combination of different demographic and behavioral variables/components of entrepreneurial ecosystems affecting the classification level of effectuation among rural business owners. The research tool for measuring the research variables was a standard questionnaire that its validity and reliability were tested and confirmed. The main method of data analysis was Naive Bayes algorithm of the machine learning which was implemented using R software. The results of the classification of effectuation as the main indicator of entrepreneurial thinking showed that the variables, including prior experience, focusing on poultry breeding as the main job, capacity of the production unit, access to cooperation and market network, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, motivation, innovation in the market, human capital, and financial capital at their high levels resulted in high level of effectuation thinking. Therefore, it can be concluded that a combination of behavioral and demographic variables as well as ecosystem components can capture the entrepreneurial behavior. Based on research findings, some suggestions were proposed to develop the supportive climate of rural nascent entrepreneurs.

Due to the occurrence of droughts during recent decades and their direct impact on the agricultural sector, proper management of agricultural water resources is of particular importance. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and prioritizing strategies for sustainable management of agricultural water resources in Lorestan province. In this study, quantitative-qualitative and exploratory approaches were employed as the main research method. The qualitative section of the study was based on Grounded Theorizing. In the first stage of Grounded Theorizing, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with water resources management experts. The major objective of this stage was to identify the solutions. The results of this stage revealed that there are 44 solutions for sustainable water resources management that can be categorized in four "educational-cultural", "supportive-institutional", "economic", and "technological" components. In the second stage, the Delphi-fuzzy technique was used in two stages to reach an agreement among the experts and to prioritize the identified steps. The most important solutions in each step were including, comprehensive support of innovative ideas about reducing water consumption in the agricultural sector, directing water to groundwater aquifers to conserve water from winter rainfall for use in low water seasons, strengthening farmers' perception towards water shortage by providing training courses on sustainable water resources management strategies and cultivation of low-water crops, and guaranteed purchase of these products from farmers to prevent the cultivation of irrigated crops. According to the results, research, the institutionalization of water conservation culture based on education, is the main implication of achieving sustainable agricultural water management in Lorestan province.

Fars province is one of the southern provinces of Iran that has been exposed to severe climate variability in recent decades. About 30 percent of the province's population lives in rural areas, and the majority of their livelihoods depends on agriculture. Rural men and women have different roles and responsibilities, therefore, their interactions and sensitivities to climate variability are different. The main purpose of this study was to assess the vulnerability of rural women towards climate variation and its gender consequences in rural areas of Fars province. The theory underlying this study has been the theory of feminist political ecology. The statistical population was rural women of agricultural households affected by climate variability in Fars province. Stratified random sampling method was used to select the sample group. In present study, the data were collected from 406 respondents. Data were analyzed using livelihood vulnerability index. Findings showed that the type of vulnerability of rural women towards climate variability was different and vulnerability is highly correlated with livelihoods, gender inequalities, roles and responsibilities, and the presence of the patient at home. Based on the results, vulnerability is itself affected by external climate variability and internal social determinants. In the first stage, the women’, s roles and responsibilities is exposed to environmental changes and then gender inequalities are major affecting factors in their vulnerability against climate change. Based on the findings and results, the end-users of the study were provided with some applicable recommendations, including development of processing workshops for small-scale agricultural products, establishing socio-economic institutions for rural women, especially for more vulnerable clusters, and extending a gender-equitable approach in climate services.

Urban agriculture is a widely used sustainability strategy to improve the stability of a city. One way to deal with urban problems is urban agriculture development. Urban agriculture can be a vital livelihood strategy for the urban poor in many developing countries resulting in benefits including enhanced food security and economic empowerment. In this regard, suitable conditions must be provided to use urban agricultural capacities. The aim of this study is to identify the driving factors of urban agriculture development. For this reason, driving factors to the development of urban agriculture are identified in the literature review, or by reviewing related researches, field observations and semi-structured interviews with 15 experts (urban planners, agriculture specialists and university faculty Members) in Tabriz city. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed with interpretive structural modeling technique and a MICMAC analysis. Findings show that research-development factor along with other factors such as,extension-education and financialtechnical support is the main driving factor of UA development and must be considered and reviewed more than other factors.

Soil degradation is one of the basic challenges in the agricultural development, whose prevention needs an improvement in soil conservation behavior of farmers. In this regard, in present study, an extended version of protection motivation theory was employed to analyze the soil conservation behavior of farmers who cultivate summer-crops in Dashtroom Dehestan. This research used survey method to collect data. Statistical population included summer crop growers in Boyer-Ahmad County (N=197). Out of them, 120 cases were selected as sample using Krejcie and Morgan’, s Table. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts as well as practitioners. Furthermore, the reliability research tool was assessed in a pilot study using Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0. 65-0. 93). Results revealed that summer crop growers had moderate behavior regarding soil conservation. Estimating the model fit indices of the extended protection motivation model by partial least square analysis showed that the NFI and SRMR criteria were at a good level and the components of protection motivation theory could explain 18% of the changes in farmers’,soil conservation behavior. It should be mentioned that according to the results, “, perceived severity”,made a significant contribution to the total variance explanation. Therefore, it is recommended that farmers be informed about the consequences of negligence of soil conservation by means of visual demonstrations and extension programs.

Despite the importance of virtual social networks (VSNs) in improving the quality of learning, students' educational use of these networks is not very desirable. Given the importance of the issue, this descriptivecorrelational study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the use of VSNs by agricultural students based on the technology acceptance model. The statistical population of the study was included all agricultural students of University of Zanjan (N = 1227). Based on Krejcie-Morgan table, 296 of the students were selected for the study using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The data collection tool in this study was a questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its construct validity and composite reliability were obtained by estimating the measurement model. The results showed that "sending homework and classroom activities", "access to the latest information and news about educational issues", and "informing other students in different educational fields" were the main uses of VSNs by the surveyed students. Moreover, four variables of perceived playfulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived anxiety were accounted for 72 percent of the variance of the perceived ease and two variables of perceived usefulness and perceived ease were accounted for 67 percent of the variance of attitude. Similarly, the attitude was explained 45 percent of the variance of students' use of VSNs. According to the findings, the main suggestions of the study were included holding briefings, seminars and workshops to familiarize students with how to use VSNs, supporting and providing appropriate technical services to students, employing print media to inform students about the facilities and capabilities of different VSNs, applying known VSNs for educational activities, and increasing students' information and media literacy.

Recent droughts have aroused extensive concerns on crop and food production in the world. Since the agricultural sector is the leading water consumer in Iran and farmers are one of the most vulnerable groups to drought, applying drought adaptation strategies changes their resilience and viability. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of drought adaptation strategies on farmers' livability and resilience in the Sistan region, Iran (N = 6000). Therefore, a sample of 361 farmers was taken by the multi-stage cluster randomization technique. The research instrument was a questionnaire which its content and face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and discriminant validity (AVE). In addition, evaluating its reliability using Cronbach's alpha and the Composite reliability indices revealed that the values are within the acceptable range. The results indicated that the means of the physical, and environmental livability, responding, and recovery were significantly lower than the mean interval of the variables. The findings of SEM showed that 45. 8% and 38. 7% of farmers' livability and resilience to drought conditions depend on the adaptation strategies used by them, respectively.

Today, the study of human intervention in nature and the effects and consequences of human behavior on the natural and artificial environment has received much attention. Among these, attention to the aesthetic dimension of the environment has received less attention than other dimensions related to natural resource issues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of place attachment and cultural habits on the environmental aesthetic behavior from the perspective of villagers in Kermanshah province. This research is of causal-relational type which was done using survey technique. The statistical population was the villagers of Kermanshah province (N = 1725956), of which 385 people were selected using Krejcie and Morgan table and stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment. Findings indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between "environmental aesthetic behavior" with the variables "place attachment" and "environmental cultural habits". The results of path analysis showed that place attachment has the highest ability to predict environmental aesthetic behavior (β,= 0. 398). In general, the independent variables of the study were able to explain 30. 5% of the variance of environmental aesthetic behavior. According to the results, it can be claimed that focusing on cultural habits through attracting the participation of villagers might be very effective in maintaining natural aesthetic and the occurrence of pro-environmentalist behaviors.

Agricultural exploitation systems in Iran's agricultural sector have always played an important role in integration and allocation of human, physical, and environmental resources. The main purpose of this study was to determine the optimal utilization system in the agricultural sector of Kohgiluyeh-va-Boyerahmad province according to the economic, social, and ecological criteria. Delphi technique was used to collect the required information and the questionnaire was completed by holding briefings with the participation of 34 provincial experts, including experts in the farming system, rural cooperative organization, managers of cooperatives, and unions and leading farmers. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Expert Choice software were used to analyze the data. The results, showed that based on total economic, social, and ecological criteria and 18 sub-criteria, with a relative weight of 0. 293, Mosha cooperative system is ranked first and is the most suitable alternative. Furthermore, with a relative weight of 0. 143, agro-industry system is ranked fifth as the least suitable alternative. It is worth mentioning that joint farming stock, peasant, and production cooperative systems ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively. Therefore, more participation of the villagers in the production of crops and sustainable agricultural development will be achieved by employing Mosha cooperatives, joint farming stock companies, and agricultural mechanization. Taken together, employment of these exploitation systems will prevent the fragmentation of agricultural lands under the current conditions.

Economic empowerment improves the quality of life the villagers, especially disadvantaged groups. This action can be done through active and conscious participation and ensuring well-being. In order to determine how to meet the necessary conditions for it, the present study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the economic empowerment of villagers in East Azerbaijan province using a survey research method. For this purpose, a researcher-made questionnaire was drafted. After testing the face validity (by experts) and reliability (by pilot study), 384 household heads were selected as a sample from the statistical population. Cochran's formula was employed to calculate the minimum required sample size. Stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment was applied to select the samples. Data analysis was performed through SPSS software. The results of regression and path analysis showed that 55. 9 percent of the dependent variable’, s variation was explained using seven factors, including "access to the credits", "conduction of the Hadi Plan", "ecological sustainability", "access to information resources", "agricultural experience", "purchasing power of agricultural inputs", and "accumulation of loan". Based on the conclusions, some applicable suggestions were provided to improve and strengthen the economic empowerment of villagers.

Achieving the goals of sustainable agriculture significantly depends on the critical thinking skills of the actors in this area. Accordingly, agricultural technical and vocational schools strive to develop the critical thinking skills of future farmers who are currently studying in these schools. Achieving this is not possible without a proper understanding of the critical thinking skills of agricultural students and development of a comprehensive model to strengthen them. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a model for strengthening the critical thinking skills of agricultural students in the technical and vocational schools in Iran by using social cognitive and autopoietic systems theories (N = 4939). Out of the population of the interest, 282 students were selected as a statistical sample using a multi-stage sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, which its validity confirmed using the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and the Average Shared Variance (ASV) indices. Besides, the reliability of the instrument was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficients and composite reliability (CR). Findings showed that the students’,critical thinking skills are divers according to their schools type. Moreover, students’,observational experiences had the greatest direct effect on their critical thinking skills (t = 4. 94, β,= 0. 30) which followed by perceived self-efficacy (t = 3. 61, β,= 0. 27), social confirmation (t = 2. 86, β,= 0. 17), and immediate individual experiences (t = 2. 68, β,= 0. 14), respectively. These factors could account for 53 % of the variance of students' critical thinking skills.

The agricultural sector is one of the fields in which the IoT is widely used. In order to use the IoT more effectively in agriculture, it is necessary to pay attention to the factors that make farmers tend to use it. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the constructs affecting the willingness to IoT by early adopter farmers in Tehran Province. This research is a descriptive survey and in terms of the purpose of the research it is considered an applied study. The statistical population was all early adopter farmers in Tehran province who were selected and introduced by the Ministry of Jihad Agriculture. The statistical population was 500 farmers and 221 cases were selected by simple random sampling. The sample size was calculated using the Cochran's formula. Respondents were also surveyed using a researcher-made questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Face, content, and construct (convergent and divergent) validity indices were used to assess the validity of the research tool. It is worth mentioning that the reliability of the instrument was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Composite reliability indices. In this study, the variables perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust, social influence, perceived enjoyment, and perceived behavioral control were supposed to be the main influencing variables on the willingness to use the IoT. The convergent validity of the research variables, confirms the convergent validity of the questionnaire. In order to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, pilot study and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were used. Alpha coefficients of the research variables, demonstrate the acceptability of the reliability for the research tool. The results also revealed that the effects of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust, social influence, and perceived behavioral control on the willingness to use IoT were significant. It is also worth mentioning that the effect of trust on the perceived usefulness of IoT was approved.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones are part of the latest generation of precision farming technologies that are increasingly used in the monitoring and management of agricultural activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the drivers of acceptance of the agricultural drones among wheat farmers. For this purpose, an extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model was employed as a theoretical basis. The statistical population was wheat farmers in Fars province,out them 373 cases were selected using a multi-stage random sampling method. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were evaluated and confirmed. The results indicated that perceived ease of use, attitude, job relevance, and perceived usefulness had the greatest positive and significant effects on the intention to use agricultural drones, respectively. Taken together, these four variables could account for about 44 % of the variance changes in the intention to use agricultural drones. Also, job relevance was positively and significantly affected by perceived usefulness and the intention to use agricultural drones. Similarly, attitude towards the use of drones also showed positive and significant effects on perceived ease of use and the intention to use agricultural drones. Examining the fit indices of the Technology Acceptance Model showed that this model is of an acceptable level of datamodel fitness and can be a basis for behavioral changes in the field of agricultural drones’,adoption. Finally, based on the research results, practical recommendations were presented that can help policy-makers, decisionmakers, and practitioners to encourage the intention to use agricultural drones.