فصلنامه تحقیقات اقتصاد و توسعه کشاورزی ایران
سال پنجاه و یکم شماره 3 (پاییز 1399)

Earth warming and climate change are one of the most important environmental issues in the world. In Iran, unsustainability of climatic conditions, the lack of uniform distribution of spatial temporal and rainfall changes, and the use of drought management are necessary. In recent years, decreasing precipitation and increasing the temperature of air has caused problems in the agricultural sector and the profitability of crops. In this study, the sensitivity of agricultural products' profitability to fluctuation of climatic variables in Khuzestan province based on combined data was investigated during the period of 1992-2012. The results showed that the fluctuation of climate variables led to decrease in economic profit by 58154.01 thousand Rials per hectare, and contribution of climatic growth to yield of products indicates the high contribution of rainfall. According to the results of the research, it is recommended that farmers' education should be used to counteract the decrease in the profitability of products, given the country's vulnerability to climate change. Creating an agricultural insurance system can also help to stabilize yields from product performance.

It is believed that land fragmentation and small size of the farms causes low productivity and, high cost of production and results in a decrease in the farmers’ net income. Thus, it is worth to study empirically the effects of lands fragmentation on the cost of production. Guilan province is one of the areas where agricultural land Fragmentation is widely observed. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to estimate the effect of agricultural land fragmentation on the production cost of rainfed wheat in Guilan province. To this end, production and cost data of wheat and barley was collected for the crop year 2014-2015 through questionnaires from Deylaman and Malakut regions in the Guilan province. An indirect cost function approach was utilized and the best functional form was chosen using econometric criteria. Based on the estimated parameters of the chosen model, the cost elasticities of all variables including numbers of land fragments were estimated. Results indicate that, the Translog functional form is most appropriately represents production technology of wheat and barley in the study regions. Also, result confirms that fragmentation of land causes increase in the average cost of production and demand for labor input in these two crops. In addition, the estimated scale elasticities reveal an increasing returns production technology in the studied crops. Accordingly, land consolidation and augmentation policies are suggested to reduce average cost of production.

The main objective of this research was to design a model for assessing and partitioning the international pistachio market in order to identify Iran's opportunities in these markets. Accordingly, in this paper, the study of market structure, the status of competitors in the market, market access, and the cultural and political adaptation of countries for the years 2001- 2016 provide indicators for clustering target markets in these markets. Subsequently, using international meta-clustering methods, international pistachio market segmentation has been done and homogeneous export clusters have been extracted for Iran's target markets. In this research, using Cummins clustering algorithm, Cummins and Clooney Antes algorithm and also Cummins and hierarchy combination algorithms for clustering of target countries of Iranian export of pistachio were studied. Comparison of the results of the three clustering methods showed that in the Cummins and hierarchical combination algorithms, the resulting clusters display less error. Based on the results of the Davis-Bouldin, Chu-Su, five clusters were identified for Iran's export destination countries for export of pistachios, and the same policy for the countries in each cluster and policy in the target countries of different clusters could lead to increased efficiency of the considered strategies.

Given the strategic importance of wheat production in country, optimal applying resources and planning to increase its production efficiency is essential. This study conducted with purpose of evaluate and analyze types of Technical, allocative, economic, revenue and profitability efficiency of wheat producers in Kermanshah Ravansar-Sanjabi Study Area with Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Data required collected by random stratification method and completion of 100 questionnaires in 2017-2018 crop year. results showed that the mean of technical, management, scale, allocative, economic, income and profitability efficiency were 70.2%, 74.5%, 94.4%, 90%, 67.2%, 73.5% and 26.9%, respectively and it demonstrates the failure of study area farmers in economic production of wheat and profitability. In addition, 74% of surveyed farmers are on increasing, 18% on decreasing and only 8% on optimum return to scale which it seems logical suggestion in order to increase efficiency is increasing scale of production. Therefore, it is recommended to government and relevant authorities that provide context for relationship successful farmers and share their experiences and used methods with others and help farmers by providing extension services and transfer of latest research findings in the field of efficient use of inputs.

The wide range of factors influencing growth in theoretical foundations and empirical studies and the weakness of conventional methods have led studies to focus on only one aspect of theoretical and empirical growth patterns. This gives rise to uncertainty about specifying or combining variables in the model and estimated coefficients. This uncertainty can lead to bias and inefficiency in estimating the coefficients resulting in inaccurate predictions and inaccurate statistical inference. Therefore, in this study, using the Bayesian averaging method, the influence of the most important factors affecting the growth of Iranian agricultural sector during 1978-2017 was investigated. Using this approach, all possible sub-models are estimated using study variables and then the coefficient of each variable is averaged across the models. The weights in this averaging are determined by the Bayesian rule or the posterior probability of each pattern. In this study, 2048 different models were estimated. The results showed that investment, financial development and oil revenues with the probability of impact of 0.81, 0.67 and 0.42, respectively, are the most important variables affecting the growth of agricultural sector and also the growth rate of agricultural imports with a probability of impact of 0.90 had the most negative effect on the growth of value added. Therefore, investing and financing producers, paying attention to domestic production and setting trade policies on imports should be a top priority in policy making and planning.

Nowadays, the issue of providing food security of vulnerable groups is one of the ‎formidable challenges at the international level. Refugees as one of these vulnerable ‎groups are always considered by governments and improving the situation of their food ‎security is substantial in many developed and developing countries. In this study, the ‎situation of food security of Afghan refugees was assessed in Southern areas in Tehran ‎province, 2018-2019. The needed data was collected via filling out the HFIAS questionnaire and ‎the questions related to socio-economic factors. The results showed that 88.7% of ‎Afghan refugee households face food insecurity in the target areas and prevailing ‎moderate food insecurity is more than mild and severe level (40.7%). The age of headed-‎household, heads' occupation (permanent or seasonal job), income groups (medium and ‎high level of income), the number of employed members, and personal saving are ‎inversely and significantly associated with food insecurity. On the other hand, having a ‎child greater than 18 years old, the number of male children, and head's smoking have ‎a direct and significant association with food insecurity among Afghan refugee ‎household. Therefore, attending to socio-economic factors which were confirmed their ‎significant association with food insecurity in this study is important. Developing ‎employment opportunities, making easier access to banking facilities, the needed ‎education in the line of reducing the consumption of cigarette and decreasing the limited ‎access to the job market are suggestable.

The purpose of this study was to provide a model for identifying the antecedents for purchasing organic agricultural products focusing on the role of the store image. The study was applied and descriptive. The population of the study consisted of all consumers of organic agricultural products in Bioneshan stores in Tehran, who used the products of this company. About 384 samples were selected using the available sampling method. In order to confirm the validity of the questionnaire, content validity, construct validity and convergent validity were examined. To assess the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used, which was 0.787 for the whole questionnaire. The results of the research show that the price image, brand image, and perceived risk affect the image of the organic agricultural products store. The store image has a significant effect on the perceived quality and perceived value of organic agricultural products and perceived quality has a significant effect on the perceived value and intention to purchase organic agricultural products. Also, the perceived value has a significant effect on the intention to purchase organic agricultural products.

The integrated chains of meat production in Iran are an example of vertical supply and value chains that all of their stages are managed in centralized structure. These supply and value chains in each of their stages face challenges that affect their performance. This study amid to problem analysis the integrated value chains related to poultry production in Mazandaran. So, Zarbal, Afagh Toyoor and Ajdade Mazandran value chains were studied using a qualitative method. Data were collected using non-participant observation and semi-structured interview techniques from stakeholders, managers and actors in mentioned chains (19 participants). In the process of data analysis, at first, a description was presented about structure of each chain and then, using qualitative content analysis, coding and results interpretation were considered. Findings revealed that State Livestock Affairs Logistics (SLAL) has caused the most damage to the value chains by adopting inefficient policies and inappropriate behaviors. The importance of these policies is that they cover across the chains and specifically affect the market. Indeed, although these chains are faced with challenges in terms of inputs, collaboration agreements, and laws, they are facing more serious challenges due to the ineffective policies adopted by SLAL in the market.

The country's water resource depletion is a problem that exerts its effects in various areas such as climate, agriculture, vegetation, wildlife and so on. In this study, using systematic and holistic system dynamics approach, we will analyze and analyze the dynamic relationship between municipal water level and urban green space in Zarghan city. This system model has been simulated and analyzed with Vensim Dss software. The overall results of the simulations and scenarios are that heat islands and construction are among the most important factors in increasing water consumption in the system. Also, the most important factors affecting the reduction of water use, type and amount of vegetation water use in Zarghan municipality are as follows: Annual survey and model simulation for 1385 for twenty years. Actual data were collected from 1385 to 1395. In this regard, the quantitative results of the model show that by reducing the water consumption by defined methods per square meter by 40%, saving 42 million cubic meters of total water over a 20-year simulation period.

The existence of irregularity in the ownership and pattern of agricultural land distribution is one of the most important challenges to sustainable agricultural development, which can lead to increase production costs, wasteful time for farmers, and reduce production efficiency. Therefore, the present research was carried out with the aim of analyzing the arable land fragmentation in East Azarbaijan Province so that by identifying these impacts, could be suitable solutions proposed for coping with arable land fragmentation. The statistical society of this research is the farmers of the agricultural sector located in East Azarbaijan province (N=212926). The sample size was estimated using Cochran's formula of 380 people. They selected by stratified sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire, that its validity confirmed by a group of faculty members at Tehran universities and Gorgan Agriculture University, and experts in agricultural lands working in Land Affairs Organization of Iran. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient: economic impacts=0.81, social impacts=0.91, technical impacts=0.75 and management impacts=0.86. The results of prioritization of impacts of arable land fragmentation showed that the most important effecs of arable land fragmentation were: increase of the problem of water division and its transfer to the other farm, increase of production costs, and decrease of productivity of production factors, increase in transportation costs, and the waste of time in the rebellion to various parts. Also, the results of structural equation modeling showed that economic impacts (with factor load of 0.87) were the most effective outcomes among the impacts of arable land fragmentation.

The aim of this study was to predict the rural women’s quality of life as a function of both microfinance and individual quality in Kermanshah and Hamedan counties. The research method was descriptive-correlational and the paradigm was quantitative. The statistical population consisted of all female members of microfinance funds in Hamedan and Kermanshah cities who have received credits from these funds and were surveyed through census method. The questionnaire face validity was confirmed by a number of experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.8). The results showed that most of rural women used the received microfinances to create or expand a business, and after receiving the microfinance, the percentage of individuals with own income increased from 18 to 30 percent. Also, the results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between "passed training courses" and rural women’s quality of life and all of its dimensions. But the number of family members showed a significant negative correlation with women’s quality of life. Also, variables of membership years in the microfinance fund, perceived microfinance adequacy, the amount of income generated by the business and the number of created employment showed a positive relationship with the rural women’s quality of life. Ultimately, "passed training courses" were the most important predictor of rural women’s quality of life.

In the colleges of agriculture in Iran, the lecture is used as a dominated teaching method. Team learning is one of the most commonly used educational methods in the present era. The aim of this study was to compare the Team Member Teaching Design (TMTD) and the regular lecture method on the academic achievement and teamwork behavior of agricultural students.

A within-subject design was followed for two groups in which the first group attended a series of lectures and the second group participated in team teaching. Differences between lecture and team teaching methods were examined for their academic achievement and teamwork. The study samples were taken of the medicinal herb Department of the University of Arak during the academic year of 2018-19. The mean scores of academic achievement and the teamwork behavior of students were compared.

In compared groups, the effect of the TMTD method on the academic achievement of students was shown. The results of means comparison tests indicated a significant difference between the two methods of teaching in the field of academic achievement and the strengthening of the teamwork behavior of students.

The paper further discussed team method implementation and its implication for teaching and proffered the way forward for effective use of teaching methods for better results in the classroom teaching and learning process.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers to application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies to sustainable of Citrus Gardens in Mazandaran Province. Population consisted of all citrus farmers in the villages of 12 county of Mazandaran province, a sample of 290 farmers was selected by using proportional random sampling method among 122361 citrus Orchardman. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Validity of questionnaire was determined through sustainable agriculture experts of Mazandaran County and some faculty members at University of Tehran, Department of Agricultural Extension and Educatin, Agricultural Management and Development. Cronbach’s alpha was used to estimate the reliability (More than 0.7). The reliability was found to be acceptable. The results of factor analysis showed that technical-informational barriers, infrastructure-institutional barriers, support- economical barriers, psychological barriers, management - control barriers were the five barriers to application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) technologies to sustainable of Citrus Gardens. These factors explained 68.27 percent of the total variance.