International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Jun 2019

Group dynamics features are important factors for improving farmers’ socio-economic status. This study focused on the effect of group dynamics features on the socio-economic status of cocoa farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 93 cocoa farmers for the study. Descriptive statistics and linear regression were used to analyze the data. Results showed that the mean monetary value of their material possessions, income generated from the cocoa producer per production cycle per year and other agricultural production activities were 9,819,796.60 Naira, 2,693,900 Naira and 1,887,400 Naira respectively. Majority (51.7%) of the cocoa farmers are of moderate socioeconomic status (M=4,800,365.53 Naira). Results showed that the group dynamics features of the cocoa farmers are high in group cohesion (M=31.04) and leadership dynamism (M=25.75) while it is low in group attitude and behavior (M=23.09), discipline, trust and accountability (M=17.76) and group rapport (M=14.47). The results of linear regression revealed that farming experience (β=0.301) and educational level (β=0.561) significantly (p< 0.01) increased the socio-economic status of the cocoa farmers. The study concluded that personal characteristics can influence cocoa farmers’ socio-economic status and their group dynamics features. The study recommended that cocoa farmers’ personal characteristics (educational level and farming experience) should be improved through intervention programs, training and sensitization as this will translate into better-quality group dynamics features thereby enhancing their socio-economic status.

Rural areas have always played a significant role in the global economy by providing a variety of foods and raw materials. This role is much more prominent in developing countries. Rural development is also an important part of regional policies, covering agriculture, forestry, natural resource management, land use, and economic diversity in these areas. The present study focused on investigating rural development in rural areas of Islamshar County, Iran. Given the lack of productivity in this region and the fact that this county is so close to two metropolitan cities of Karaj and Tehran, it is necessary to examine the level of development of the villages in this county. Among various methods of ranking, the credit and point of rural development in this research were measured by AHP-based TOPSIS, factor analysis, and scale gram methods. Categorization by TOPSIS and factor analysis revealed close results considering 27 criteria for the evaluation of choices. Scale gram analysis generally confirmed these results. Also, the overall results show that the economic factor derived from the factor analysis method and the agricultural factor derived from the AHP method were acceptable. According to the viewpoint of the research population, many of the rural areas in the studied county were categorized in "deprived" group.

The purpose of the present study was the simulation of climate change effects on groundwater resources in Iran by using the dynamic systems approach. The approach was performed through system dynamics modeling process including problem explanation, system description, model development, model testing, and the use of the model for policy analysis. The impact of the application of various exogenous scenarios including drought scenarios, management of water supply and population growth was assessed and the behavior of variables of water resources volume and per capita volume of renewable water of the Southern Khorasan province was simulated by Vensim software for the 2013-2041 period. Data were collected by referring to relevant organizations like South Khorasan Regional Water Organization, South Khorasan Agricultural Organization, and Statistical Center of Iran and the input data of the model were fed into the model in an Excel worksheet. The results showed that the water resource exploitation management scenario had a significant positive effect on the balance of aquifers of South Khorasan Province so that the balance of the province aquifers in the scenario of controlling water resources exploitation has been significantly different from the scenario of the lack of control of different drought in all the studied years. In addition, the results of examination of the province's renewable water showed that droughts have had a negative impact on the volume of renewable water of the province and droughts together with population growth have reduced the province per capita renewable water.

The aim of this study was to determine the probability of working days (PWD) for tillage operation using weather data with Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) artificial networks. In both models, seven variables were considered as input parameters, namely minimum, average and maximum temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, wind speed, and evaporation on a daily basis. The PWD was considered to be the output of the developed models. Performance criteria were RMSE, MAPE, and R2. Results showed that the R2-valuewas 0.78 and 0.99 for MLR and RBF models, respectively. Both models had acceptable performance, but the RBF model was more accurate than the MLR model. The RMSE and MAPE values for the RBF model were lower than those for the MLR model. Thus, the RBF model was selected as the suitable model for predicting PWD. Moreover, the results of these models were compared to the prior soil moisture model. It was indicated that the results of the studied models had a good agreement with the results of the soil moisture model. However, the RBF model had the highest R2 (99%). In conclusion, the developed RBF model could be used to predict the probability of working days in terms of agricultural management policies.

Economic theories show that the direction and magnitude of the fluctuations of economic variables depend on the type and magnitude of the shocks they are faced with. Various reasons are noted for fluctuations in demands for imports, including productivity shocks. Accordingly, this research was aimed at identifying the effects of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) shocks of the agricultural sector on the demand for agricultural imports during the period 1982-2014. These shocks were divided by the Blanchard-Quah technique into two groups: permanent and temporary. Then, the effects of shocks on agricultural imports were studied by the Structural Vector Auto Regression (SVAR) Method. The results showed that, in the short and longrun, temporary and permanent TFP shocks of the agricultural sector have had a significant effect on the demand for agricultural imports, and the effect of temporary shocks was stronger than the effect of permanent ones. Therefore, if the policymakers seek to reduce the demand for agricultural imports, the agricultural TFP must continuously be incremented.

The main objective of this research was to investigate the effect of managerial power on entrepreneurship psychological characteristics of employees in Agriculture Jahad Organizationsof Western Azarbaijan Province. The stratified random sampling method was applied for data collection. In order to collect data, the power assessment questionnaire developed by Hinkin and Schriesheim (1989) and that of assessing entrepreneurship psychological characteristics developed by Durham Institute were used. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on partial least squares approach and SmartPLS v2 were used to analyze data. Results showed a significant positive relationship between managerial power (except for coercive power) and achievement orientation, intrinsic control, creativity, ambiguity tolerance, and independence characteristics; however, no significant relationship was observed between managerial power and the risk-taking characteristic. Additionally, results from the structural model showed managers' referent and expert powers have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurship psychological characteristics of employees. Therefore, drawing on the results of this research and the proper use of their power, managers of Agriculture Jahad Organizationscan develop and strengthen entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurship spirit amongst their employees, and consequently, guarantee the organization success and prosperity.

Improvement of life quality is a general aim of all developmental programs all over the world. So that, It  is  an  important  issue  that has  been  studied  by  socialists  and  even  psychologists. Social capital is the social aspect that consists of trust, a norm for regulating the relation among members, and network, which can increase mental health and can be used as the access to health information; accordingly, it can influence individuals’ quality of life. Thus, the present study attempted to explore the effect of social capital components on rural women’s quality of life in Zabol Township. The statistical population of this study consisted of all rural women (15-64 years old) in the central district of Zabol Township (N=9234). Based on Bartlett (2001)’s sampling table and applying multi-stage cluster sampling method, 209 rural women were chosen for the study. The main instrument used in this study was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by the panel of experts and its reliability was established by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed by SPSS23 software. Result of inter multiple regression analysis revealed that the social capital components were the main predictors of rural women’s quality of life in Zabol Township. The findings of this study have implication for rural development policy makers and planners in order to improve the rural women’s quality of life in the process of rural development.

The main purpose of this qualitative research was designing an export marketing strategy model for tea product to the target markets. The statistical population was composed of all experts in the field of this research topic (N = 332), the sample size was determined as the same as the statistical population. Second-hand data used for collecting data and a semi-structured interview was used as a research tool. Five series of interviews were conducted with the experts. In order to identify the status of tea export, the first interview was done with tea exporters during 2016 (87 people were interviewed). The second interview was done with factory holders for investigating the status of green tea leaf and dry tea as well as the respective model (170 companies were interviewed). In the third step, the experts and practitioners were interviewed (50 people were interviewed) for providing the research model. The fourth interview was done with experts of the tea research centre and organization (10 people were interviewed) to examine the status of tea gardens, green tea, and dry tea production and the main model. Finally, some Iranian business and economic advisers were interviewed in the fifth step. The results showed that direct export - business partner was as the most suitable method to enter the target markets. Participation in the related fairs in the target country and invitation and presence of traders of target markets in Iran determined as the most appropriate method for market penetration and development strategy. Low price with more discounts was seen as more suitable in pricing strategy. Top quality and top packaging were selected as the best method regarding product strategy. Selection of top distributors in each country and chain stores were determined for the product distribution. Using the brand of target market, digital marketing, fair, and social networks were recognized as more suitable regarding promotion strategy. Gardener and factory holder cooperating, agricultural improvement of tea gardens, promoting quality of green leaf of tea, and using modern types of machinery for cultivation and harvesting in production strategy was the most important production strategy. In addition, differentiation through special taste and smell of Iranian tea, high quality, and attractive packaging design and type were recognized as more suitable selected as the best differentiation strategy.