IRANIAN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND EDUCATION JOURNAL
Year:2022 | Volume:18 | Issue:ویژه نامه|Papers Count:19

Productivity growth and realization of food security will depend on the transition from traditional agriculture to knowledge-based agriculture. With the ever-increasing demand for land, water and ultimately food, the future of agriculture is not possible without knowledge and innovation. While little research has been devoted to the study and identification of the framework and components of knowledge-based agriculture. In this regard, the current research was conducted with the aim of identifying the components and formulating a knowledge-based agricultural development model. In order to achieve this goal, the combined qualitative and quantitative paradigm was used and two approaches, grounded theory and fuzzy Delphi, were used. The statistical population of the research was 15 experts consisting of agricultural Jihad experts, faculty members, experts of research centers and experts who helped to identify and extract knowledge-based agricultural components and verify them in two phases of grounded theory and fuzzy Delphi. The research results showed that a knowledge-based agricultural model focusing on food security based on four pillars; Institutional system and economic incentives, specialized and trained manpower, efficient innovation system and sufficient and modern information infrastructure. These four main components consist of 11 sub-components and 69 items, which were approved after two stages of asking experts' opinions through the fuzzy Delphi process and calculating the mean difference. Also, the component of the institutional system and economic incentives with the average de-fuzzification (0.5841) was selected as the most important component of the proposed model. Applying this model in practice and emphasizing its components in the field of agriculture is suggested to achieve food security and improve productivity.

This study aimed at investigating the social impacts of the Eyvashan Dam on the surrounding ruralareas. The methodology was quantitative in nature with the type of applied research and wasapproached in a descriptive-survey manner. The statistical population of the study was 128households living in the villages around Eyvashan Dam. Totally, 90 households were estimated assample size according to Bartlett and colleagues’ sample size table and were selected by performing arandom proportional distribution of the samples in four villages of Eyvashan, Chakmeh Siyah,Goldareh, and Chaghalvandrud Olya. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnairewithin which the face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of thequestionnaire was also confirmed by conducting a pilot study and calculating the Cronbach's alphacoefficients (0.621 - 0.879). Findings showed that the Dam affected all social components across localcommunities in the way that conflict was more noticeable among them, with a decrease compared tothe past (-0.318). Results also revealed the variety of diverse impacts among the surrounding villages.

Effective communication among researchers, extension change agents, and farmers is essential for developing knowledge-based agriculture. Accordingly, in the new agricultural extension system, creating an effective link between agricultural extension and research sub-systems has been considered as one of the main components. Therefore, the main purpose of this survey research was to analyze the performance of researchers in agricultural model sites as perceived by farmers. The statistical population of the study consisted of the farmers (N= 669198) in Alborz, Fars, Sistan & Baluchestan and Lorestan Provinces. The sample size was estimated to be 399 farmers based on Krejcie and Morgan sampling table. Also, proportionate stratified sampling technique was used to select the samples. Data were collected through a questionnaire, whose validity was approved by a panel of experts and convergent validity indices like Average Variance Explained (AVE). Reliability of the questionnaire was approved by calculating the indices including Cronbach's alpha coefficients and composite reliability (CR). The collected data were analyzed by SPSS22 and Smart PLS3 software. Results of prioritizing components of researchers' performance in the model sites indicated that "ability to present content" was in the highest rank and "frequency and quality of researchers' presence in the model sites" was in the lowest rank. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that researchers' performance in the model sites' can be measured using four components (i.e. communication and responsibility, frequency and quality of researchers' presence in the model sites, presented content, and ability to present content). These results confirmed the homogeneity and reliability of measuring indicators in the measurement model. Accordingly, it is recommended to increase the regular presence of researchers throughout the year in the model sites.

Empowering youth for employability, which means having the set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to get a job and play an effective role in the labor market, is one of the main priorities of governments in development programs. This issue is especially important for rural youth people as an important labor force in the rural economy and undoubtedly, not paying attention to the capabilities of the rural youth will result in wasting human resources and migration in villages. Due to the extensive progress in various scientific and technological fields and also increasingly changing conditions, needs, and expectations of societies, adapting the content of youth skill training to scientific and technological advances and social developments is one of the concerns of the skill training systems. To fulfill this purpose, there is an urgent need to an intelligent plan to create innovative and effective process and content changes in order to cover the skill gaps of young people in the field of new technologies, especially digital technologies. In this research, the role of digital skills and knowledge in empowering rural youth for employability in future has been discussed using the methodology of review studies. Also, the necessity of modeling and implementing effective processes to create and strengthen the skills and knowledge needed for rural youth employability to face the future challenges of employment has been investigated.

Knowledge management in the agriculture sector is one of the main goals of the agricultural extension system trying to improve the access of farmers to technical knowledge and research findings. This survey research aimed to identify the effective strategies on knowledge management process in the new agricultural extension system. The population of the study included all agricultural extension specialists in Agricultural-Jihad Organization of Zanjan province and the assistant researchers in the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center which were 143, and 28 cases, respectively. Due to the limited number of the respondents, all of them were sampled and studied.  In order to measure the strategies, a total of 37 items were used in four dimensions. To evaluate the validity of the research tool, in addition to seeking experts’ opinions (face and content validity), average variance extracted (AVE) was used. In addition, Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR) indices were employed to measure the reliability of the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS24 and Smart PLS3 software. According to the findings, the solutions "existence of ideas management systems" and "recording and maintenance of valuable researches and experiences of researchers, extension agents, and experts" were placed in the highest rank of in the dimensions of “knowledge creation” and “knowledge storage”, respectively. In addition, the solutions “organization of stakeholders’ knowledge and information in different ways” and "production of various written and electronic media to transfer knowledge among stakeholders based on their characteristics and needs" were ranked first within the dimensions of “organization and processing of knowledge” and “knowledge distribution and transfer”, respectively. Also, the findings of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the strategies to improve the knowledge management process can be categorized in four main components including creation, storage, processing and organization, and distribution of knowledge. the homogeneity and reliability of the indicators were confirmed.

Drought, as one of the most destructive environmental disasters, leads to significant damages on the property and lives of the residents of the communities. Rural communities are the most vulnerable ones to drought since their main activity is agriculture. The current research, therefore, was conducted with the aim of investigating the impacts of drought on rural households of Kakan district located in the central District of Boyer Ahmad County. The study population was 47 household heads resided in Kakan district who were selected by purposeful snowball sampling method. In this process, the sampling was continued until reaching the theoretical saturation. The findings from the semi-structured interviews were analyzed by open and axial coding systems through MAXQDA software. Accordingly, the results were classified in the form of three main categories including social, economic, and environmental impacts. Furthermore, 22 subcategories were also identified that included the change in employment structure, the decrease in economic power, asset amount, the value of property, investment, the quantity of food, cultural-social vitality, the quality of food, physical health, psychological disorders, rural residents' participation, interaction and solidarity, sense of trust and security, the increase in cost living conditions, the increase in agricultural costs, income disruption, the disruption of agricultural jobs, the disruption of non-agricultural jobs, expanding training on coping with drought, residents' migration, regional air quality, and environmental quality. Finally, some suggestions were recommended to reduce the impacts of drought in the study area.

In order to manage, preserve and develop sustainable resources in agriculture with regard to climatic and socioeconomic changes, it is necessary to choose an optimal cropping model in which, in addition to having the maximum possible income requirement for the farmer, special attention is also paid to the correct and principled use of resources. Designing an optimal cultivation pattern in the form of a specific program for optimal management of plant location composition according to ecological opportunities and threats, production factors, economic issues, cultural and social factors, and modern technologies have been used in recent years in many countries across the world. Adopting this strategy has contributed to the resolution of many problems of crop, horticulture, and rangeland production. Due to the fact that cropping pattern modification program currently is considered as one of the strategic plans of agricultural development, the present study investigated the factors affecting crop pattern modification using Dematel technique. The study area was Delfan county in Lorestan province. Population of interest was the experts of Agricultural Jihad of Delfan city and the sampling was done by a purposeful random approach. Based on the results obtained from Dimtel method, the most influential factors in modifying the cropping pattern were economic, social, cultural, environmental, and political-institutional factors, respectively. Furthermore, the most impressionable factors were alternatives and individual factors, respectively.

Considering the importance of food security and agricultural sustainability in Iran's development vision document, the purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between agricultural sustainability and food security of farming households in rural areas of Amol County. In this regard, the required data were obtained by stratified random sampling from 105 farmer households in the region. Coping Strategy Index was used to measure the food security status of households. Also, to determine agricultural sustainability, an aggregated index based on economic, social, and environmental pillars was used using Analytical Hierarchy process method. Pearson's correlation coefficient was emplyed to investigate the relationship between sustainability and food insecurity. Based on the results, gross profit margin from the economic aspect, empathy from the social aspect, and pesticides from the environmental aspect had the greatest impact on agricultural sustainability. Furthermore, 57% of farmer households in the rural areas of Amol County suffered from food insecurity. 39% had moderate food insecurity, and only 4% enjoyed food security. In addition, respondents use different levels of coping strategies to deal with food insecurity. In addition, there is a positive and significant relationship between social sustainability and food security in the rural areas of Amol county. While no significant relationship was found between economic and environmental sustainability and food security in the study area.

During the past decade, natural hazards and disasters such as drought has impacted human lives. Rural households in Iran have been the victims of natural disasters in general and drought in particular causing farmers becomes more vulnerable. Although vulnerability is considered a multidimensional phenomenon, most climate change scholars consider vulnerability as a first step in drought mitigation plans. Thus, the purpose of this descriptive study was to determine vulnerability of farmer household towards drought. Using stratified random sampling, 172 households participated in this study. A researcher-made questionnaire weas used to collect required data. The validity and reliability of the instrument was confirmed through faculty members in Agricultural Extension Department and using test-retest respectively. Vulnerability was assessed using a formula suggested by Deressa et al. Results revealed that household vulnerability can be classified into three categories: low, medium, and high. Household vulnerability based on households’ village location (14 villages) showed that Kahrare Moghoofe village had the highest vulnerability across the studied area. Moreover, Moradabad village remained the lowest vulnerable among other villages. Result of this study has implications for drought mitigation plans in Kermanshah Province. In addition, limited resource allocations should be more focused on vulnerable groups.

The maps show the static connection of the components of a system. Therefore, a scientific map is able to specify the sources and direction of the flow of science and its limitations and deficiencies. The aim of this research was to draw and analyze the scientific map of rural entrepreneurship in order to determine the global trend of research in this field. The statistical population of the study included all scientific research articles indexed in the ScienceDirect database in the field of rural entrepreneurship (including 1679 records) from 2012 to 2022. Data were plotted and analyzed using VOS viewer software. The highest and lowest amount of publication of scientific research articles in this investigated field published in 2021 and 2012, respectively. During the studied years, 690 keywords, 37 clusters, and 2468 links were identified in the field of rural entrepreneurship. With 54 and 167 occurrences, the terms sustainability and communication power were identified as the most frequent keywords in the field of rural entrepreneurship during the research period, respectively. With the occurrence indices of 49, 37, 25, and 20 and degrees of connection indices of 136, 119, 82, and 69, the terms “entrepreneurship development, innovation and poverty were ranked second to fifth, respectively. Thematic categories of microcredits, sustainability, rural development, transformation, China, and Thailand had more links with other categories and were the densest and hottest topics in the investigated area.

Considering the limitations of the agricultural sector to increase production through the development of production factors and major changes in existing technologies, perhaps the most appropriate economic solution is to increase the production and income of farmers through improving technical efficiency and in general obtaining maximum production from fixed set of production factors. In this regard, the aim of the current research was to determine the technical efficiency of grape and apple producers in Bandan region of Dena County. The statistical population of the research was grape and apple orchardists in Bandan region, among whom 126 grape growers and 107 apple growers were randomly selected. In order to check the technical efficiency of the producers, the Cobb - Douglas production function was used in the Frontier software environment. The results obtained from the estimation of grape and apple production function showed the effect of inputs of poison, fertilizer, machinery, labor, land and water on the production. The average technical efficiency of grape and apple producers was estimated at 82.17% and 52.38%, respectively, which indicated high efficiency of grape growers and average efficiency of apple growers.

Due to the increasing importance of water in Iran's agriculture, modern irrigation methods have been developed and implemented in different parts of the country over the past years. But there have always been doubts about the success of these methods and farmers' satisfaction with them. Therefore, in this research, the effectiveness of the drip irrigation system and the factors affecting it in Bandan region located in Dena County was investigated. The statistical population of the current study consisted of gardeners and experts of agricultural Jihad Administration of Dena County (N = 5536). Out of them, 200 people (168 gardeners and 32 experts) were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling technique. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was obtained using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (ranged between 0.62 to 0.85) for different variables. The results of the correlation analysis between research variables showed that there is a significant relationship between educational-extensional, technical-technological, knowledge and awareness, economic, and organizational-institutional factors with the effectiveness of drip irrigation. Also, the results of the regression model analysis showed that the economic, educational-promotional, organizational-institutional factors had significant effects on the effectiveness of drip irrigation and in total explained about 18% of the variance of the effectiveness of drip irrigation.

Sustainable agricultural development primarily depends on innovation in both technical and non-technical aspects. Agricultural innovation is the result of a co-evolutionary process of networking, multi-disciplinary collaborating and resources sharing among various institutional actors from public and private sectors. An important issue which often ignored in practice .In this regard, the main purpose of this applied study was to determine the current level of resource sharing relationships among different extension actors involved in providing various extension services to address a wide range of farmers’ demands. A sequential mixed methods research design was developed and relevant key informants were purposively selected in both qualitative and quantitative phases. Qualitative data were gathered using unstructured and semi-structured interviews with 28 key informants and analyzed according to the fundamental assumptions of Soft System Methodology (SSM). In contrast, quantitative data were collected from 45 senior experts through a survey using a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed by Social Network Analysis (SNA) technique. According to the qualitative findings, different extension service providers were classified into 21 institutional actors. The results of social network analysis showed there were not appropriate coherent linkages among multiple extension actors in the resource sharing network activities. Hence, different institutional actors could not take advantages of each others’ valuable capacities in a synergic manner. Furthermore, as a popular node, public extension agency had a high centrality in the network, and this can bring forward some concerns.

The main purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting satisfaction of villagers of Tabriz city toward agricultural and rural programs of Sahand provincial TV channel. Survey method was employed for conducting this descriptive-correlational study. Statistical population was 149500 rural people in 71 villages under the 6 rural districts of Tabriz. Samples size was determined by Krejcie and Morgan table (n=350) and the samples were selected by a multistage sampling approach. The required data was collected by a questionnaire with 61 open/close-ended questions on a Likert type scale. The values of Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients ranged between 0.77-0.81. The level of villagers’ satisfaction was higher than the average (3.13). Stepwise regression analysis showed that the variables “participation in the preparation of the program”, “applicability of the content”, “suitability of the program broadcast time”, “quality of TV sound and image in the region” and “the duration of using the programs” have the greatest effect on the level of satisfaction, respectively. In total, these variables predicted 55% changes of the dependent variable.

The increase in the world's population and as a result, the need for more food and the significant reduction of renewable resources have caused an increase in the intensity of agricultural activities and the consumption of water resources. Today, this process has led to the emergence of a concept called the water scarcity. In order to prevent the occurrence of drought and reduce its destructive effects, correct management of water resources is considered as one of the most important exit strategies. Therefore, the current research has sought to identify the mechanisms for improving the management of agricultural water resources in paddy fields. The statistical population of this research included all water and soil experts in the public and private sectors of the Jihad Agricultural Organization of Mazandaran province (N=130). Out of them, 97 cases were determined as a statistical sample by using the Krejcie and Morgan sampling table. Finally, the data analysis was done based on the data collected from 90 respondents using SPSS 16 software. The research tool was a questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was approved using Cronbach's alpha test (0.87). The result of the factor analysis resulted in identification of five economic-social, managerial, technical-infrastructural, institutional-legislative, and educational-promotional factors as the mechanisms for improving the management of agricultural water resources. The five identified factors explained a total of 49.45% of the variance related to mechanisms for improving the management of agricultural water resources. It is suggested that relevant stakeholders and officials be more focused on the identified factors in order to improve the management of agricultural water resources in paddy lands and consider the necessary steps and measures in related planning. In the end, some suggestions have been presented according to the research results.

This study was done to analyze the factors affecting farmers repayment behavior for Agricultural Bank Credits in Chaldoran County of West Azerbaijan Province. The required information was collected from 200 customers who received the loan in Chaldoran. To model the level of loan repayment time, we used Ordered Logistic Regression to assess the efficiency of independent variables which had the correlation with repayment behavior. The results repayment behavior of respondents showed that the behavior of 7.5% is on time, 24.5% is past payment, 34.5% is delayed, and 35.5% is doubtful payment. The results also showed that the customers who have received the credits including investment, yearly repayment, non-agricultural loans had better repayment behavior. In addition, variables such as age, education, the number of children, the farm price, farm size, number of animals, product price decrease, natural disasters, the cost of loan, the loan interest, and the year of receiving the loan had significant negative effects on the repayment behavior. Also, the year of receiving the loan, the amount of loan, and the way in which it is consumed could account for the 42.4% of the variance of the dependent variable at 5% error. In addition, The year of receiving loan, performance reduction, natural disasters, and family members could explain the 71.5%  of changes of repayment behavior level.

Farmers’ satisfaction of the extension expert’ activities is one of the important factors in acceptance of and participation in extensional activities. The extension agents of Miandoab Agricultural Jihad Administration have held various extension activities such as educational classes, demonstration and research farms visitings in order to familiarize the farmers with the principles and benefits of sustainable agriculture. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting farmers' satisfaction of extension activities in the field of sustainable agriculture in the villages of Miandoab County. This research was an applied and descriptive-correlational study. The statistical population of the research was 5154 rural household heads living in 18 villages covered by agricultural service. The sample size was 360 cases which was estimated by Krejcie and Morgan table. The samples were selected from 9 villages by a random and proportional allocation method. The interview method was used to collect the information of the research. The research tool included eight sections and 50 questions. The validity of the research tool was evaluated using the members of a research committee through formal content analysis method. The reliability of the different sections of the research tool, which had been designed in the form of a Likert type scale, was assessed using the Cronbach's alpha coefficients (ranged from 0.74 to 0.87). The dependent variable of the research was the level of satisfaction of farmers that measured by six questions in the form of a five-point Likert scale. Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influencing factors. Data analysis showed that the average satisfaction of farmers was below 2. The quality of extension services, expectation of extension services, and the age of farmers had significant effects on the dependent variable and 30% of the farmers' satisfaction variance was predicted by these three variables.

The traditional natural resources management methods need to be changed. In addition, due to the natural resources management’s cross-sectoral nature, all effective components should be considered in consistent management practices. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the general aim of identifying the constituent elements of a compatible participatory governance system in Habalerood watershed as a coupled social and ecological system. The statistical population of this research is the key stakeholders related to the Habalerood watershed at the national and provincial levels and the community of natural resource users based in the watershed. This research sought to identify elements explaining a part of the system's behavior in the form of a modeled interactive approach. Due to the characteristics of their social and ecological systems, solving problems in watersheds requires a systematic management approach. Based on this, the appropriate definitions and methodologies that guarantee the sustainable development of watersheds, positive research, and reviews should be developed in micro formats.

Due to the limited of production resources in the agricultural sector, the need to deal with the productivity and efficiency of production units, including wheat products, is becoming increasingly evident. Considering that Ahar County accounts for more than 10% of the area of  rainfed wheat cultivation in East Azerbaijan province, this study aimed to determine the technical efficiency of rainfed wheat in Ahar County and its relationship with the farmers attendance in extension courses. For this purpose, required data was collected from 217 wheat farmers in the 2018-2019 crop year. The results of Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier function estimation were used to collect, the required information. The results of Cobb Douglas' production function, coincidentally, showed that the factors such as area under cultivation, seed, machinery, animal fertilizer, and labor had positive and significant impacts on the wheat production. The average technical efficiency was estimated 79.4%, indicating the possibility of increasing wheat production by 20.6% with the same amount of resources. Also, according to the results of the inefficiency function, some cases such as attending in extension courses, having highly educated householder’s members had positive and significant effects on the technical efficiency of wheat farmer. However, presence of pest in the field had a negative impact on the technical efficiency. Thus it is inferred that there is a positive and significant relationship between the number of extension courses and the level of technical efficiency of rainfed wheat in the study area. Therefore, taking measures that increase the number and quality of extension courses can help improve the technical efficiency of the product.