VILLAGE AND DEVELOPMENT
Year:2009 | Volume:12 | Issue:3|Papers Count:12

The objective of this study is to examine the contents of development policies of Iran on the basis of sustainable development model to identify their conformation with each other. The methodology in the present study is content analysis. The results of the descriptive analysis show there is no reference to sustainable development in the policy part of the first development plan, while in the second plan 4 references have been made to this issues and in third and fourth plan the references raised to 14. The number of references made to the social dimension of development in the first, second, third and fourth plans were 48, 57, 116 and 144 respectively, while references to environmental sustainability were 20, 31, 41, and 49 respectively. As for economic sustainability the number of references in the first, second, third and fourth plans were 24, 32, 49 and 43 respectively. In the content of agricultural policies the total numbers of references to sustainable development in the four development plans were 7, 5, 13 and 16. The most frequent consideration given to the advancement of sustainable agriculture can be observed in the fourth development plan, such that 62 percent of its policies contained issues concerning sustainable development and this showed the orientation and emphasis that the agricultural policies assigned to sustainable development model.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the participation of Islamic Councils in extension programs concerning sustainable rural development. The statistical population consisted of 264 members of Islamic council of Barogh District of Miandoab County and Keshavarz District of Shahindej County. Out of this, 122 members were selected using Cochran formula and random sampling. This survey was a descriptive-correlational study. The results indicated that 70 percent of councils had participated highly in extension programs. Variables that had significant influence on participation included: incentives, council members' knowledge of sustainable development, and educational needs. 48 percent of variations in the council participation in extension programs could be explained by the entered variables in the multivariate regression test.

The present study, in a sustainable development framework, has a systematic and holistic look at agricultural entrepreneurship development in rural areas of Khodabandeh County. It intends to link qualitative and quantitative research in a logical manner to identify factors that affected the development of agricultural entrepreneurship in rural areas under study. It attempts to identify the degree of importance of each factor from the sample perspective. The descriptive explanation and analysis of statistical tests and qualitative study shows economic factors have a significant importance in all three groups of sample communities.

Due to increase of construction expenditure in new irrigation projects and the inability of public sector to provide for capital investment and maintenance costs of these systems, planners have directed their attention towards enhancing the farmers' roleS. The main purpose of this survey was to analyze the grounds for farmer's participation in the management of irrigation system of Jarghooyeh district in Esfahan County. The statistical population consisted of 1810 members of water users committee. The results of factor analysis showed that 71 percent of farmers' participation is concentrated in the following areas: participation in technical development and protection of the system, increasing productivity, optimal distribution of water, collective action and cooperation with water state agencies. Other results indicated that there were positive and significant correlations between the farmers' areas of participation in the management of water systems and the age of the members, level of education, the length of membership, the size of irrigated land, ownership of small livestock and poultry and farmer's experience in farming and livestock practices. Also there was a negative and significant relationship between the farmers' areas of participation in the management of water systems and the number of land parcels. Farmer members mentioned the construction, maintenance and repair of new channels and gates as the areas of highest priority for participation. The farmers' level of participation is lowest in the areas of cooperation with experts from the water office concerning the optimal use of water, and attendance in training programs.

The present research has studied 557 sample households aiming to identify the relationships between intra household contextual variables (migrant and head of household characteristics) and their roles on the migration of rural household members to cities in 32 villages of Marand County. The results of multivariate logistic regression indicated that in this research three variables with high level of significance were among the strongest factors that influence this phenomenon: sex (being male) of the migrant, unemployment of the head of households, and diversified income sources. The lowest migration due to economic and non economic reasons happened where the head of household was a woman. In migration due to economic reasons, landlessness of rural households and the number of the dependents in the household without considering their personal characteristics were respectively among the strongest determinants of migration which were statistically significant. Generally it can be concluded that unemployment and the possibility to find work in cities and personal characteristics such as education, or technical skill were not the main reasons, but in addition, asset of general conditions of rural underdevelopment, and the lack of life attractions in villages under study were the main reasons for migration.

A look at evolutional trend of different approaches to rural and agricultural development indicates the effective role of farmers and local people in problem solving and basic decision making. The change in approaches from pure scientific orientation to participatory orientation and the rejection of this assumption that farmers are the limiting factors of development is a confirmation to the importance of the role of farmers and local people in the achievement of development. In this direction, comprehensive development is not limited to hardware dimension, but includes a software dimension which is not different from behaviors, views, preferences, and beliefs of farmers and local people. In this documentary study, the role and importance of behaviors and attitudes, their interrelationships, and their applications in agricultural extension and rural development studies were examined. A correct knowledge of farmers attitudes and behaviors in different situations can lead to a better and more efficient design and planning of development projects, such that it can be highly adapted to the needs and problems existing in the rural and agricultural sector.

An examination of the history of nomad settlement indicated that in the past decades the nomad settlement policy inspired by different views such as social change, modernization, basic needs approach, and sustainable development. This issue would lead to the formation of numerous nomad settlement centers. One thing which needs our attention is that how much these formed centers have led to the improvement in the socio economic life of nomads in comparison to the time of migration. To this end, the nomad settlement centers were selected as sample and a questionnaire was used to assess the opinion of the settled people about their socioeconomic situation in these centers, some of which were formed spontaneously and some by government. The results indicated that these were not very successful socially and particularly their economic situations have worsened such that they lost their sustainable employment and have become dependent upon unsustainable employment. A comparison of government formed and spontaneously formed centers indicated that the socioeconomic situation is better in the former. On this basis, the sustainability of these centers calls for efficient planning and removal of the challenges.

Improving the quality of life is the main objective of all planning’s. The presence of problems necessitates the study of the quality of life. This study is a survey based on questionnaire. Its main objective is to measure the variables related to the quality of life and their impacts on the security of border areas in Nosoud district of Kermanshah province. The study results indicated that the quality of life in the area under study is not high and among the variables three of them, passing leisure time, quality of environment and physical quality have influenced the security of border areas.