فصلنامه روستا و توسعه
سال سیزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 50، تابستان 1389)

Economic sustainability is a crucial factor in the vitality of rural areas. The area under study is facing difficulties and constraints such as limited and unsustainable income, the lack of diversified economic activities, the lack of employment opportunities, expansion of poverty and unemployment and consequent rural migration, negative population growth rate and pressure on the village limited economic resources. The study examined and assessed the economic sustainability and categorized the villages of Kouhin subdistrict using the Barometer of Sustainability. Also the relationship between economic sustainability and spatial-location features of villages was examined. The results indicated that Koohin subdistrct's position is below the average from a sustainable economic perspective and more than 60% of villages are nearly unsustainable. To achieve economic sustainability, the study recommended the following: diversification of economic activities emphasizing agricultural sector, increasing the income of rural people from activities related to agriculture such as handicrafts, processing of agricultural products and domestic jobs.

The goal of the present study is to find the gap between the existing and desired situation on the basis of factors affecting the success of cooperatives. It is a descriptive, cross-section survey of 220 cooperative members. The results of Wilcoxon test indicated a significant difference between the two situations. To enhance the existing situation special attention should be paid to socio-cultural, personality, technical, management, training and economic factors. In addition, in each factor we should consider some issues as follows: Socio-cultural factor: Belief in the philosophy of cooperation, communication with other cooperatives and using their experiences, enhancing the work knowledge, and generating the spirit of collaboration; Personality factor: innovation ability, risk acceptance, entrepreneurship spirit, interest in and motivation for productive work, and flexibility;Training factor: entrepreneurship communication skills, technical skills, collaborative skills, familiarizing with cooperative skills, internship, informing of new technologies, and informing the engineers;Management factor: managing the production and marketing, human resource development, manager accountability, management of threats and opportunities, considering the community views, skills, experience and education of executive manager, organizing, and authority;Economic factor: long term investment, appropriate marketing, facilitating the access to loans, and economic participation.

The poor water and soil resources and small farm lands impede the agricultural development and consequently raise unemployment and migration rates. Appropriate development of rural small industries and workshops and employment generation can resolve these problems. The main objective of this study is to propose small industries and workshops which are appropriate to the potentials of rural areas in rural areas of Ardestan county. To this end the views of 20 experts from wood industries were collected in a Delphi framework. The results indicated that the goals of sustainable rural industrialization, and prevention of raw material export have the highest and lowest importance according to the scores. Agricultural products relating to fruits and livestock have the first priority, and production of textiles, metal and stone have the last priority in the recommended industries of the area.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship and effectiveness of joint cooperatives in rural development of Esfahan province. The main part of data is extracted from the results of Agricultural General Census of 2003 as well as the Statistics of the Vital Events and Rural Facilities in 2003 from the Deputy of Health and Treatment of Esfahan Medical Sciences University. The regression results indicated that there is a low association between rural development indicators and joint cooperatives, The only significant relationships existed between cooperatives and indices of rural facilities, employment and demographic characteristics. In addition, the estimated fitness from the structural equation modeling indicated the non confirmation of the model in the examination of the relationship between the indices of the two issues in the research. In general, the results showed that joint cooperatives were not successful in the socioeconomic development of their catchment areas; therefore, it is suggested that their activities be reconsidered seriously.

The level of employment is influenced by different factors such as the application of modern technologies. Despite the positive consequences of application of these technologies in the improvement of the living conditions in rural areas, it reduced the active role of women in production and also had negative consequences for rural economy. This study is a descriptive survey. The statistical population consisted of 928 households from which a sample of 101 households was selected randomly. The results indicated factors such as employment situation, household income, number of children, women's literacy, and the lack of employment opportunities had the most impact on women's employment.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the role and mechanisms of using mobile technologies in the provision of mobile training services for rural people in Zanjan province by means of a descriptive-correlational method. The statistical population of this study included 169 managers and experts of Jihad for Agriculture Organization in Zanjan province. The respondents identified some of the most important contexts that can be used for training of rural people with mobile mechanisms as follows: informing the time of training courses, sending information about the region’s weather situation, sending alerts about the spread of farm pests and diseases, sending information about agricultural inputs, informing people of the price of agricultural products, and alerts about the natural hazards in the region. The factor analysis identified the first factor that can be provided for rural people through mobile mechanisms as farm and horticulture issues. Animal husbandry, administration, credit, marketing, and tenders were the other factors.

This study is a quantitative research and the research method is descriptive survey. The statistical population consists of 2000 rural women of Hossein Abad village in Kangavar county. The sample size consisted of 131 women selected randomly on the basis of Krejcie and Cochran formula. The results indicated that the main barrier to women's participation was of the cultural type. The study recognized the following as the most important factors that prevent women's participation in education and extension programs: traditional beliefs that govern in the area, women involvement with difficult tasks, children upbringing, women low literacy or illiteracy, husband dissatisfaction with the presence of their wives in extension and education programs, and local criticism of those women who participate in the education and extension activities. The results also showed that there was not a consensus among rural women based on age and literacy level in relation to influential factors.

This paper looks at qanat from a different angle. The main hypothesis of this paper is that the provision of water by the rural people themselves using qanat and its associated social network which is necessary for the maintenance, membership and use of water can be the origin of enhancing the tendency to advance, generating participatory environment, and strengthening the spirit of empowerment in the direction of the realization of the conditions of sustainable rural development. The field study in this research was carried out in two villages Davaran (with qanat) and Ferdowsieh (without qanat) in Rafsanjan county. The results indicated that, in terms of social development, a significant relationship did not exist between the two villages. But there such a relationship existed between owners and non owners which showed the importance of qanat in strengthening sustainable rural development in these areas. Also the level of empowerment in the village with qanat was significantly higher. In Davaran the owners of qanat were more empowered than non owners. The level of social participation in the two villages was not significantly different, but there was a significant difference between the two villages concerning the propensity to advance.