Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Year:2019 | Volume:50 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Land use change prediction can provide necessary input for decision-making of environmental management and the future planning. The aims of this study was assess the Land use change and to predict the change for 2030, 2042 and 2054 by Markov chain model and to prioritize sub-watersheds using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) in order to recognize and manage environmentally unstable areas in the future. Land use changes were examined applying Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) in Halil-Rud river basin. For this purpose, Landsat TM, ETM and OLI images and Maximum Likelihood (ML) classifier algorithm were used for 1994, 2006 and 2018 and five types of Land use including middle grassland, poor grassland, agriculture (cultivation-gardening), water coverage (including water of river, reservoir and wetland) and other non-vegetation uses (including rocky surface, mountain, soil, very poor grassland and settlement) were identified in the basin. Results showed that during 2018-2054, middle and poor grasslands and water coverage will change to agriculture and devoid of vegetation lands in such a way that the share of middle and poor grassland coverage will decrease by 65. 12 percent. Also, finding of FAHP approach indicated that sub-watersheds of Roodbar-Jonub and Ghalehganj will face the most severe environmental crises over the next 36 years. Finally, Land use and environmental conditions are predicted critical for all the sub-watersheds in 2054. Therefore, it is very necessary to apply policies (including water resources management) to change the level basin environmental destruction process.

In recent decades Climate and its changes have become one of the world major issues and as one of the major environmental problems. Agricultural sector is one of the first areas affected by these changes because farmers are not able to control climatic conditions; however, management and change in factors such as crop cultivar and optimization of the cultivation pattern according to area climate can reduce the adverse effects on growth and yield of agricultural products and play a significant role in the sustainable production of foods. Therefore, in this research, the effects of climate change on cropping pattern in Mashhad have been investigated. The statistics and data needed for the research were collected through Mashhad Agriculture Jihad Organization, meteorology Organization, as well as in-person interviews with agriculture specialists and farmers in Mashhad. The results of this study show that rainfall level, maximum and minimum seasonal temperatures have increasing trend and these changes have a significant effect on the yield of crops in the region. Also, considering the climate change scenarios (to 2031) during the planting period of each studied product, their crop area values have been changed and farmers' gross margin increased by 1. 6 percent compared to the base year (2014). Finally, the results of this study indicate that the greatest changes in yield due to climatic conditions are related to wheat and barley; therefore, it is necessary for policy makers to pay attention to this issue in order to reduce the risk of these products production and prevent from reduced production of these strategic crops.

Land use planning based on its ecological capability has a significant role in environmental management and in preventing environmental degradation in the direction of sustainable development. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to determine the ecological capability of agriculture and to select the most suitable places to allocate to this land use in Estahban county, Fars province. Descriptive-analytical method was used to measure the ecological capability of the study area. In this research, the multi-criteria decision making process has a very functional role to play by using the GIS. Due to the fact that part of the county of Estahban has protected areas and since there is no possibility of farming in these areas, the analysis and calculations of the present research have been carried out without considering the area of the mentioned part. The results showed that 77 percent of the land area of Estahban county is located in the ideal location for users, and only 23 percent of it remains in compliance with the land use and ecological capability of the county. According to the ecological capability of the study area, nearly 19% of the county's land is in a suitable and very suitable agricultural area. Also, the results showed that around 308 square kilometers of agricultural land use in Estahban county is contradictory with its ecological capability, but it is much less than 50 percent, and the prevailing area of the county has favorable environmental conditions. Altogether, by policy-making, stopping the horizontal development of the city in the peri-urban agricultural lands, extending agricultural use in the southeastern direction of the county, creation of agricultural-related conversion industries, establishment of factories of fig tree products such as jam making, creation of producer organizations for fig producers and support and strengthen existing organizations, hold training programs for farmers on water management and storage, and preventing unbridled migrations of villagers to the periphery of cities, can help to improve agriculture in places with capability and to prevent further degradation of such lands.

The purpose of this survey research was to investigate the food waste in household and it’ s affecting factors. The statistical population of the study consisted of all households in Central district of Najaf Abad County that based on Bartlett and colleagues’ table for determining sample size, 405 households were selected as a research sample and were chosen by stratified proportionate random sampling technique. In each sample household, a person between the ages of 15 to 64 who was responsible for at least half of cooking, shopping and managing the home was involved in the research process. The data collection instrument was a researcher's developed questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and the reliability of the questionnaire was also evaluated by conducting a pilot test study and calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0. 60-0. 79). The results of cluster analysis showed that the studied households were separated into three different clusters, the throwaway people, households with moderate food waste, and saved people. Moreover, the results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that the awareness construct had incremental effect and social norm, attitudes toward food waste, knowledge of waste reduction, skills to manage food consumption, existence of infrastructure, and having a time schedule had decreasing effects on household food waste behavior. In total, these constructs explained 25% of variations in variance of household food waste behavior.

The future of organic farming, as one example of sustainable agricultural approaches, largely depends on the consumer demands and their incentive to pay higher prices for their products. Therefore, by using Sequential Exploratory Strategy, the present investigation aims to identify the driving factors behind the organic market development. In the qualitative part, by content analysis of the resources and data from semi-structured interviews with 16 organic market experts, 29 proponents were identified in six main groups. Then, in the quantitative part, second order confirmatory factor analysis method was applied to confirm the identified driving factors. The statistical population was Managers, experts, producers and sellers of organic products. Using the Cochran formula and a stratified sampling with proportional allocation, 68 participants were selected. The data were collected using a questionnaire based on the results of the qualitative section and analyzed using SPSS22 and Smart PLS3 Software. The mean value of the average extracted variance (AVE) for each of the model structures was more than 0. 5 and the coefficients of composite reliability (CR) were more than 0. 7, which indicates the proper performance of measurement section in the model. Based on the results, the factors of culture and advertising, strengthening channels of distribution and sale, financial and credit support, inspection and supervision, educational and promotional programs and certification facilities, logo and branding are respectively the most important driving factors for the development of the organic products market.

Current applied research was aimed to analyze the situation and formulate strategies for development of cooperative extension system through strategic planning approach was implemented in two stages. In first stage systematic literature review the situation of cooperative extension was analyzed through a systematic literature review. In this way 44 external factors (18 opportunities and 26 threats) and 35 internal factors (17 strengths and 18 weaknesses) are identified. In second stage finding of first stage was used to formulate a questionnaire to assess and develop strategies based on SWOT technique and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). Finding of second stage revealed that final score of external factors for extension cooperative activities is 2. 356. This implies that cooperative sector couldn’ t benefit from opportunities factors or avoids threats factors. Moreover final score of internal factors for extension cooperative activities are 2. 795. This implies that effective internal factor for extension cooperative activities are strength. Regarding cell number five in internal and external matrix, conservative strategies are accepted in strategic planning for development of cooperative extension system. Finally by QSPM technique attractiveness of strategies is specified.

Perceived innovation characteristics are one of the components affecting innovation adoption. Accordingly, present study aimed to investigate the perceived bio-fertilizers characteristics impact on consumption of these bio-fertilizers. Statistical population of this study constituted of all farmers were working in Yengijeh Village in Zanjan county (N= 313) from which 161 farmers were accessed through convenient sampling. Sample size was determined according to appropriate sample size for multivariate statistical techniques. The appropriateness of determined sample size was also confirmed by Cochran formula. Data collected through a questionnaire that its validity and reliability were examined respectively by a panel of experts and Cronbach's alpha (α ≥ 70). Stepwise discriminant analysis was applied to examine the effect of innovation characteristics including "perceived compatibility", "perceived observability", "perceived complexity", "perceived trialability" and "perceived relative advantage" on bio-fertilizers consumption. Discriminant analysis revealed that "perceived relative advantage" was the only bio-fertilizers' characteristic that could distinguish consumer farmers from non-consumer farmers. Other variables entered the discriminant function lacked acceptable discriminant power for separating consumer farmers from non-consumer farmers. In this study farmers' perception of bio-fertilizers may could affected by their financial, technical conditions and skills. Thus, it is suggested that farmers' individual and social characteristics considered, besides, bio-fertilizers perceived characteristics.

Considering the importance of promoting and developing renewable energy technologies in today's world, the purpose of this study was to Investigating factors affecting farmer’ s intention of adopting renewable energy technology in Larestan County of Iran. In order to achieve this goal, at first, it has been attempting to extract the factors affecting farmer’ s intention of adopting by browsing library sources and documents. To determine the validity of the questionnaire, panel of experts of the department of agricultural extension and education of Tarbiat Modares University was used further more to access reliability of the research tool, Cronbach’ s alfa test was used. Then, for different parts of completed questionnaires, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated by using SPSS-22 software and showed that the questionnaire has a good reliability. A survey method was used to conduct this research. This research in terms of purpose was applied research type, in terms of controlling variables was non-experimental and in term of data analysis was descriptive-correlative based on structural equations modeling. Statistical population included 2501 farmers of Larestan. Stratified random sampling method was used for sampling and sample size was determined by considering Kerjcie and Morgan table (n=331). The results of the research showed that among studied variables, attitude, perceived usefulness, self-efficiency, technology trust, ease of use, social effect, awareness and facilitating conditions respectively had the most influence on farmer’ s intention of adopting renewable energy technologies and the level of intention of adopting of 83% of the farmers was in good condition.

The main aim current of the descriptive-correlational study was Analysis the factors affecting farmers' attitudes in Islamabad city, toward organic farming. The statistical population of this study was comprised of farmers in Islamabad city (N = 13910). The sample size was 370 using a table Bartlett et al. (2001), and stratified random sampling was used. Data were collected by questionnaire. According to findings, farmers in Islamabad have a moderate attitude towards organic agriculture (mean = 3. 6, SD = 0. 8). The result of path analysis showed that the variable of Farmers' income had the most significant effect on the farmers attitudes towards organic farming (β = 0. 78). Furthermore, the other variables like: Participation in extension courses related to organic farming (β = 0. 55), The farmers' access to communication channels (β =0. 42), Farmers' knowledge of organic farming (β =0. 35), The economic and technical support to government (β =0. 32) and the organic market (β = 0. 19), had the most effects on the farmers attitudes towards organic farming and respectively ranked in other priorities.

Despite the fact that irrigation of agricultural products using untreated wastewater has unfavorable health and environmental consequences for the community, every day we see the spread of this phenomenon in the society. While there is little knowledge about factors affecting the use of this polluted water source by farmers. In this regard, the present study was conducted to distinguish users and non-users of untreated wastewater. For this purpose, 160 vegetable farmers in Sanandaj county were selected by stratified random sampling and interviewed using a questionnaire. Findings showed that farmers had high knowledge about raw wastewater quality. They also had an unfavorable attitude toward the health and social impacts of using untreated wastewater, and agreed to the non-ethical use of it in irrigation of products. The results of discriminant analysis indicated that six variables of knowledge, attitudes toward social impacts of untreated wastewater, drought perception, concern about global warming, attitude towards the health impacts of untreated wastewater and innovation, respectively, had the highest power in distinguishing well water users and untreated wastewater users. The results of this study can be used in policy making to reduce the use of untreated wastewater.

This applied empirical research was aimed to investigate relation between teacher’ s professional network(TPN), and faculty members in Agricultural higher education. Empirical data was gathered through survey strategy. The statistical population was composed of University faculty members from Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Tehran(N=295). using stratified sampling method and Cochran formula, 120 of them participated in the study. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by composite reliability indexes. Along with, its validity was confirmed by face and construct validity. Dominant statistical research was combination of Structural Equation Modeling and Social network analysis. Main finding of research showed that outcomes from network activities of faculty members have significant effect on their faculty development. In other side network activities of faculty members have significant effect on professional learning and in same way professional learning stimulate their faculty development.

The main aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention of agricultural students at University of Tarbiat Modarres. The statistical population of the study contained of all M. Sc. students in agriculture faculty of Tarbiat Modarres (N=420), from which 124 students were selected by using SPSS Sample Power software. Simple random sampling was employed in selection of the respondents. A questionnaire was developed to gather data. Validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed based on the evaluation of a panel of experts and ordinal alpha coefficient (0. 89 & 0. 95), respectively. The results indicated that the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention of the students in most cases were either intermediate or high. The results of correlation analysis revealed that there was a positive significant (at 1% significance level) relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and students' entrepreneurial intention. The results also showed that there was a positive significant (at 1% significance level) relationship between sub-dimensions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (developing new opportunities, coping with unexpected challenges, developing critical human resources, building an innovative environment, initiating investor relationships and defining core purpose) and students' entrepreneurial intention. The multiple regression also revealed that developing new opportunities and building an innovative environment significantly can predict 40 percent of variations intention toward future entrepreneurship.