Identification of effective structures for the development of citrus cultivation in Mazandaran province

Agricultural development has been emphasized as one of the dimensions of sustainable rural development. In this regard, this research was conducted with the aim of identifying and explaining the factors affecting the development of citrus cultivation in Mazandaran. The statistical population of this research was made up of 200 experts active in the citrus field of the Agricultural Jihad Organization and its subordinate units and 148,238 gardeners in Mazandaran. that Using the Cochran formula, 127 experts and 306 gardeners respectively were sampled in Available and randomly selected. The data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a group of specialists and experts. The tool of data collection was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a group of specialists and experts.  Also, Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, which that showed the value was calculated as 0.912. The results of exploratory factor analysis on 43 variables of citrus cultivation showed that six factors were identified as the main factors that Include: environmental, technical, economic, structural, social and cultural-educational, in total, they explained 51.8 of the total variance of factors affecting the development of citrus fruits. Finally, according to the obtained results, practical suggestions have been presented. Addition to, using LISREL 8.8 software, the factors affecting the development of citrus cultivation were confirmed.