Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Year:2022 | Volume:53 | Issue:2|Papers Count:15

Agricultural sector is the foundational basis of Afghanistan's economic growth and development, and the strategic sector in providing food and livelihood to its growing population. Paying attention to the regional comparative and competitive advantages of the products of this sector is one of the important aspects of efficient allocation of limited resources. It is also necessary for the planning and policy-making of production and trade. Therefore, the present study examines the comparative and competitive advantages and effects of national and international Supportive policies of selected products in each economic-agricultural zone, including irrigated and rainfed wheat, corn, rice, cotton, potato, saffron, and Poppy in the 2018-2019 crop year. To achieve this goal, two types of indicators Cost base (under Policy Analysis Matrix) and physical base (efficiency, scale, and collective advantages) were used to determine the advantage, as well as supportive and competitiveness indicators, and based on them, products were prioritized. The results show that despite the support of farmers in the tradable inputs sector, the production system is unsupported and is accompanied by taxation. Lack of attention to comparative and competitive indicators and their low level needs the implementation of appropriate supportive policies to promote the production and export of products with comparative and competitive advantages and necessary actions to increase the yield and reduce production costs for strategic products without comparative advantage.

Today due to the unbalanced distribution of water resources as well as the unbalanced distribution of the population, it is necessary that the justly distribution of water, the allocation and optimal utilization of water resources for the needs of different parts and in different areas be done.Water transfer plans are one of the water supply and development projects, which on the one hand is a response to the problem of imbalance with the distribution of the population and its related activities, and on the other hand, is the spatial distribution of water. These plans are a solution to the water crisis and has economic, social, and environmental effects. This study investigates the productive effects of the project of Taleghan water transfer to Tehran and Alborz provinces in the form of a general equilibrium model. For this purpose, the input-output table of each province designed and implemented using the general equilibrium model of water transfer scenario. Based on the results, with increasing 114 million cubic meters and 35 million cubic meters of drinking water respectively for Tehran and Alborz provinces, with a tariff of 4,000 Rials, household expenditure for Tehran and Alborz provinces, respectively, grows by 37 and 108 percent. Due to the growth of household expenditures, the production of various economic sectors, except for the product and treatment sector of water, had a small growth in the rest of the sectors.

The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship of emotional intelligence and organizational commitment with agriculture experts’ creativity and innovative behavior. The statistical population included all experts in Agriculture Jihad Organization of Hamedan Province (N=400). Totally 187 agriculture experts were selected as sample using proportional stratified sampling method. Data were collected through a questionnaire. The content and face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was confirmed and evaluating measurement model and using Cronbach’s alpha. The results of structural equation modelling indicated that emotional intelligence and organizational commitment were directly and positively related to experts’ creativity and innovative behavior. The mediation analysis revealed that emotional intelligence was also indirectly related to experts’ creativity and innovative behavior through organizational commitment. In sum, the research model was able to explain about 36% and 30% of the variance in employees’ creativity and innovative behavior, respectively. Totally, the results of this research showed that attention to experts’ emotional intelligence and organizational commitment can influence their creativity and innovative behavior, and therefore their improvement should be considered by managers.

Drought as a natural shock can potentially reduce the livelihood and well-being of rural households and encourage them to migrate from the Villages. The possible drought of Lake Urmia along with the drought will intensify the phenomenon of migration of villagers. Having a correct understanding and insight of this issue will play an important role in policy making. This descriptive and correlational study was conducted to design a model of effective factors in the migration intention of farmers in the Urmia Lake Basin. The statistical population was all rural households in East and West Azerbaijan provinces, 495 of which were selected and studied by multi-stage random sampling. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by experts of Zanjan University and Urmia Lake Studies Research Institute and its reliability was obtained by conducting a pretest and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient greater than 0.7 for composite indices. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the tendency of men to work migration is the most important factor in the tendency of households to migrate. Having a house in the city, understanding the risk of the lake drying up on family life, share of income from the agricultural sector were other factors affecting household migration. Understanding the risk of lake drying on rural life, the percentage of income from agriculture, the amount of social capital, attitudes toward drought and its management were also factors influencing men's willingness to migrate. Given the important role of earning income and employment of men in the family, proper government policy in creating employment for villagers and starting non-agricultural businesses have an important role in preventing the migration of villagers in the region.

Today, digital marketing has created a dramatic upward trend in business relationships. Prevalence of coronary disease increased this trend and inevitably, the exchange of many goods, including agricultural products, done electronically. The purpose of this mixed-method research (qualitative-quantitative) is to identify and analyze the factors affecting the digital marketing development of agricultural products in Kermanshah province. The study population consisted of experts, stakeholders and producers in the agricultural sector who are active in the field of digital marketing (29 people). Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire. In order to analyze data, content analysis and fuzzy were used. Findings showed that 14 factors affect the development of digital marketing that the first to third priorities are: training and improving the digital marketing environment, providing the necessary facilities and infrastructure and developing legal frameworks. The findings of this study can provide appropriate solutions for the development of digital marketing management of agricultural products.

The main purpose of this research is to provide a model of an optimal education system in the agricultural sector with a responsible approach to environmental protection by analyzing, identifying and determining its components. The research is an applied type that begins with a mixed exploratory view. In the qualitative stage, with the method of non-probabilistic purposive chain sampling, 30 experts were selected and semi-structured interviews were conducted. In the quantity section, the components of the model were described and tested. Sample size was considered by the size of the statistical population (200 people) and the purpose of the study, ans 127 people were selected. In order to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scales, factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha test and other required statistics were used. Specific research output were: Identifying and determining the components and the extent of their impact on the desired education system, and providing a model for it.

Regarding the crucial role of human resources in any organization, addressing issues that lead to reducing occupational injuries and increasing their productivity in the workplace is of great significance. However, primary studies show that little research has been done in this area. In this regard, investigating the effect of employing workplace ergonomic principles on occupational productivity of experts through the mediating role of occupational stress and burnout in Kerman Agricultural Jihad Organization was determined as the aim of present study. Present research is an applied and causal-correlational study that was carried out using a cross-sectional survey and structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the study was the experts of Kerman Agricultural Jihad Organization (N=1418). The sample size was estimated to be 306 cases using Krejcie and Morgan sampling table. The samples were selected by stratified random sampling approach. The data gathering instrument was a questionnaire whose face and content validities were confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of instrument was achieved using Cronbach's alpha coefficients and composite reliability indices. Structural equation modeling findings demonstrated that the direct effect of ergonomic principles on productivity was positive and significant. The direct effects of ergonomic principles on occupational stress and burnout were negative and significant. Furthermore, the direct effects of occupational stress and burnout on productivity were negative and significant. The direct effect of occupational stress on burnout was positive and significant and the indirect effect of ergonomic principles on productivity was significant, as well. Finally, the findings revealed that three independent variables (ergonomic principles in the workplace, occupational stress, and burnout) could account for 61% of the variance in productivity of experts in Kerman Agricultural Jihad Organization.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers to education and extension in management of rangelands of Mazandaran province. The research is of applied type and field research in Mazandaran Province. Population consisted of all Extension and rangeland management experts in 12 counties of Mazandaran province that in relation to the expert’s population in each of the counties related to livestock and rangeland activities through random and available sampling method, the statistical sample of the study was selected that the sample size of 110 people was obtained using Morgan formula. The main research tool included a questionnaire. Its validity (form and content) was confirmed based on the collective opinion of experts from Jihad Agriculture, Natural Resources Management, Environment Organization, Rangelands and Forests Organization in Mazandaran Province, faculty members of Department of Agricultural Extension and Education and Rangeland of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha was used to estimate the reliability (0.798). The reliability was found to be acceptable. The results of factor analysis showed that: 1) Economic-supportive barriers; (2) infrastructural-technical barriers; (3) rangeland management system barriers; (4) socio-cultural barriers; (5) Political-institutional barriers were the five barriers to application education and extension in management of rangelands. These factors explained 74.66 percent of the total variance. Finally, the proposed research model in rangeland ranchers and rangeland brokers (policy makers) has provided solutions to reduce barriers and problems in extension rangeland management. Keep up with the research results development of the use of appropriate extension methods such as training and visit approach and participatory approach and prioritization of training and extension needs in the rangeland management department of the province to disseminate information and practical skills among rangeland users, integrating knowledge and indigenous skills with new technologies in conservation Recommended from pastures and livestock production.

The study of livelihood strategies plays an important role in the analysis of poverty reduction policies and the development of livelihood assets. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the choice of livelihood strategies in rural areas of Zharai District, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The required data were gathered from 384 heads of household within 11 villages. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that included questions to measure the types of livelihood assets and livelihood strategies. The results of the one-sample t-test showed only social capital is in a favorable condition. The results of factor analysis lead to the classification of livelihood strategies and the extraction of four livelihood groups including "livelihood strategy based on agriculture and natural resources", "livelihood strategy based on self-employment", "wage-based livelihood strategy" and "external aid-based livelihood strategy". The multinominal logit model was estimated in three models. In the first model, the results showed that the likelihood of choosing livelihood based on agriculture and natural resources (as opposed to livelihoods based on external aid) increases with the improvement in natural capital. In the second model, the results indicated that the likelihood of choosing self-employed livelihood (as opposed to external aid-based livelihoods) increases with improvement in human, social and physical capitals. In the third model, the results showed that the likelihood of choosing a wage-based livelihood (as opposed to livelihood based on external aid) increases with the improvement in social capital. The development of various agricultural processing industries is proposed as alternative livelihood strategies.

Evaluate the performance of the value chain of livestock products lead to added value, reduce waste and increase productivity in this sector, employment and the economic growth of agriculture and rural development. This study was analyzed the value chain of mutton in Lorestan province according to the understanding of topic necessity. The research method was quantitative. Data collection tool was a questionnaire with structured interviews. The statistical population consisted of 380 traditional farmer. Data analyzed by financial-accounting and descriptive methods. The efficiency achieved in the previous production sector 70 % and in the production sector 47 %. The Gross production in the processing sector was 550.03 million Rials, in the distribution and marketing stage was 1099.73 million Rials and in the consumer sector was equal to 933.42 million Rials. The performance of the processing sector was positive and the overall performance of the production, marketing and consumer cycles was below average and negative. The farmer makes the best use of pre-production conditions in preparing animal feed. However, the production sector is not able to use sufficient financial resources and financial facilities. On the other hand, the possibility of producing various products in the processing sector and the income from this sector has increased the performance of this loop. In the marketing and distribution loop performance was low due the high cost of transportation, lack of timely purchase of livestock at a reasonable price and buying sheep at a lower price by brokers. The impact of the consumer's financial situation on the current economic system and the reduction of his financial capacity to buy mutton has reduced the performance of this sector.

Achieving food and water security is one of the most important goals of policymakers in different countries. Water scarcity in Iran could be one of the major food security challenges in the future. For this purpose, climatic zoning was performed using the Domarten method. After calculating the water requirement using CROPWAT software; the amount of virtual water, water footprint, water productivity, volume of water consumed by each crop in each zone and the optimal food gap in different climates were calculated. According to the results; The per capita water footprint of the agricultural sector in hyper-arid, desert arid, semi-arid, Mediterranean and humid climates and Iran is 1611.97, 1228.09, 665.83, 884.01, 600.21 and 998.20cubic meters, respectively. In addition, the intensity of water consumption within the 5 climatic zones and Iran is 64.89, 88.03, 63.19, 41.01, 56.38 and 65.48 %, respectively. Net virtual water imports for each zone show that desert arid and humid zones are exporters of virtual water and hyper-arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean zones are importers of virtual water. The results show a contradiction between the realization of water security and food security in terms of quantity. The results showed that if the goal is to establish water security; by increasing the net import of virtual water (in the case of high-consumption products with low water efficiency), the intensity of pressure on domestic water resources in each area could be reduced. But if the goal is self-sufficiency; If the current situation does not change (crop composition in cropping pattern, yield and irrigation efficiency in each zone), more pressure will be put on water resources. Therefore, in order to achieve the goals of self-sufficiency and water security coefficients at the same time; It is recommended to increase the yield, improve the irrigation efficiency, formulate a suitable cultivation pattern and allocate water resources according to water productivity and its yield in each zone.

Due to the critical conditions of lake Urmia, the plan of “modeling local community participation in lake Urmia restoration via establishment of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation” began in 2014 in the villages of the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. One of the main objectives of this plan was to identify and extend livelihoods with low water needs, which has been implemented in recent years in the form of the "diversifying the livelihoods of rural households" (DLRH) project. Considering the importance of the project and the various barriers facing its implementation, the main purpose of this applied research was to identify internal and external factors affecting the implementation of DLRH project and formulate diversification strategies for rural households in order to revitalize lake Urmia. The statistical population of the research was 27 relevant experts and specialists in the Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project Office, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Departments of Environmental Protection and Agricultural Technical-engineering Firms in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. In this research, first, internal (i. e., strengths and weaknesses) and external (i. e., opportunities and threats) factors affecting the implementation of DLRH project were identified using SWOT technique. Then, the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) technique was employed to prioritization of acceptable strategies for the development of the DLRH project. The results of the SWOT technique showed that the DLRH project was in a competitive strategic position (maximum-minimum) in West Azerbaijan province, implying that efforts should be made to avoid threats by using strengths,while the strategic position of the project was in a position of change of direction (minimum-maximum) in East Azerbaijan province, and consequently, it is recommended to take advantage of the opportunities to eliminate the weaknesses of the project. Eventually, according to the results of this study, the two main strategies to diversify the livelihoods of rural households in West Azerbaijan province, respectively, were included "professional empowerment and promotion of villagers' cognitive and skill areas" and "emphasis on the use of female facilitators in the structure of administrator firms of the project,these strategies in East Azerbaijan province also were included "development of production clusters in order to integrate and synergy rural small businesses", "more attention to facilitating the marketing of products".

In recent years, many policymakers and researchers have considered environmental degradation and pollution, as an international challenge. However, income inequality significantly affects the quality of the environment through social demand and can be important in policymaking. Income inequality, as a relative effect, also causes environmental degradation by changing the preferences of consumers of public environmental goods. This study investigated the effect of income inequality on SO2 and SPM emissions for the period 1990 to 2018 in the form of Johansen's approach. The results show that Gini coefficient has a positive and significant effect on SPM and SO2 emissions, so that one percent increase in Gini coefficient can effect 1. 29 percent increase in SPM emissions and 1. 37 percent increase in SO2 emissions. Based on the estimated results, energy consumption has a positive effect on SPM and SO2 emissions in Iran. So, one percent increase in energy consumption, 1. 12 percent increases SPM emissions and 1. 44 percent SO2 emissions. Economic growth has a positive effect on the release of SPM and SO2 in Iran. One percent increase in economic growth increases 0. 78 percent of SPM emissions and 0. 79 percent of SO2 emissions. According to the coefficient table the variable Ly2 is negative. Therefore, the Kuznets environmental curve hypothesis cannot be rejected during the period under study. Urbanization has a positive and significant effect on SPM and SO2 emissions, so that it increases one percent increase in urbanization, 0. 93% SPM emissions and 0. 97% SO2 emissions.

Oil and oil’s revenue are the most important items of economy that makes big part of government budget. over the years oil price has* been fluctuating because of factors such as political of other country, social issues and this fluctuation has impacts on development and economic growth. Considering the importance of oil in economy and its impact on various economic sectors, including agriculture which is a portent part of economy that has its effects on GDP, food security, employment and etc. This study investigated the impact of oil fluctuation price and the Intensification of Sanctions on value added of Iran's agriculture sector between 1984 and 2018. To estimate the oil price fluctuations using GARCH model, and investigating short-run and long-run relationship between value added of agriculture and opec oil price fluctuations and the intensification of sanctions use ARDL model. The results show that in the long term, the intensification of sanctions has a positive effect on the value added of the agricultural sector and the fluctuation of OPEC oil prices has a negative effect on the value added of the agricultural sector. Therefore, paying attention to the infrastructure of the agricultural sector as a relatively stable sector of the country's economy and covering the price risk of exporting agricultural products and importing production inputs by adopting appropriate strategies in related markets and creating and developing knowledge-based companies in this field, can guarantee positive economic growth for the whole economy.

Men and women experience climate change in different ways. Since they have socially distinct roles, responsibilities, and identities leading to choose different adaptive strategies and responses. Rural women are vulnerable to climate change impacts due to their high dependence on natural resources. The purpose of this study was to analyze the perception of rural women in Fars province regarding climate variability. This study is a qualitative research and is based on the Grounded Theory. Six focus groups interviews were used to collect the required data in four climatic regions of Fars province including cold, moderate, hot, and very hot that had experienced mild, moderate and severe drought. Themes and concepts were analyzed. According to the results, a paradigmatic model was developed for the adaptation of rural women to climate variability. Causal conditions refer to human activities in this model. Also, contextual and intervening conditions affect the application of adaptation strategies for rural women. Type and diversity of households' income source, women's roles and responsibilities are among the most important contextual conditions limiting the use of adaptation strategies by rural women. Also, intervening conditions included the lack of sales markets, reduced purchasing power of rural people, unpredictability of the government export and import policies in agricultural products, and increased inflation (that makes inputs more expensive and thus reduces investment power).