مجله اقتصاد و توسعه کشاورزی
سال سی و پنجم شماره 3 (پیاپی 52، پاییز 1400)

The role of rural women in the process of economic development has been a growing concern of economists, planners, and the governments. The potentials of rural women as economic actors are not yet fully analyzed and yet there has not been adequate attention to the way gender affects rural women’s participation in economic development. Many projects for productivity increase in agriculture and rural development could not be realized or the outcome might have been different, if women had been involved in the process. Projects for family planning, the spread of literacy and basic health care cannot be achieved without recognition of the importance of the role of women. In the rural areas many poor families depend upon the income of women, who contribute significant amount of cash income to the subsistence level of economy. Always, indoor jobs are one way to achieve sustainable development in rural communities and rural women have a main role in the household economyy. The aim of this descriptive-survey research was to find out discrimination level of rural women participation in the indoor Jobs creation based on socio-economic aspects. Existing structures of decision-making in most developing countries cannot adequately represent women’s issues; their work and potentials for development have been neglected. The situation calls for structural change. Women’s full involvement in the formulation of programs would affect their lives. Access to and control of development resources need to be supported by organizations of the rural women themselves. Participation through local level organizations are critical for an empowering process, and which can provide access to resources for self-sustained development.
This research is a quantitative study, non-experimental type and, an applied research, in terms of nature, the extent of controlling variables, and objective. Survey design was applied to achieve research objectives. The research population were included rural women of Fash district, Kangavar County, Kermanshah province that had to take out a loan for indoor job (N= 168). In this study census method was used. Data collection instrument was a questionnaire. Five-point Likert-type response scale (from very low= 1 to very high= 5) was used to measure research variables. Questionnaires’ face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. Pilot test was performed to evaluate its reliability that Cronbach's alpha was between 0.81-0.86. Analyzing data was done by SPSS23 and R tools.
The analysis of rural women’s demographic characteristics showed that most rural women were between the ages of 20 and 35 years. 23% of women were bachelor or higher. Thus, 52 percent of literate women were literate or illiterate. 33 percent of women were active in home businesses and marketed their products. In contrast, 67 percent of women did not participate in indoor jobs. To investigate the research hypotheses, women's participation score was divided into two levels named participation and non-participation based on the mean of the sample. Ordinal logistic regression was used for data processing using R software. Finding indicated that among the variables of the social and economic aspects, social status and income levels were highly discriminating the participation of rural women in indoor Jobs.
It can concluded that promoting women's participation in social, economic and planning activities in order to expand their participation, especially in the economic field, is a prerequisite for sustainable development. This is particularly needed in rural areas where women have long been traditionally involved in family economic affairs. Also, it can concluded that various factors influence the participation level of rural women in the indoor jobs creation. In other words, interaction among socio-economic components can determine participation level of rural women. According to the results of this study, it is suggested that if the conditions and demands of rural women are provided, family businesses in rural areas can be organized as cooperatives. In order to familiarize and encourage rural women to participate in indoor business, targeted training programs to improve rural women's businesses should be provided to familiarize them with markets. In addition, the support provided by officials by providing the facilities needed to set up home businesses such as loans and banking facilities can help develop the industry in rural areas. Finally, development of entrepreneurial and self-employment culture in rural society by empowering entrepreneurs can impact the social status of rural women and promote home businesses.

The final energy consumption per capita in Iran in the agricultural sector is 3.4, as well for household sector is 2, besides the commercial and public sectors are 1.6, and transportation and industry are 1.4 times the global average. This is due to low efficiency in operation, high energy consumption, as well as the use of energy goods and services. The use of renewable energy in the agricultural sector, while increasing the security of energy supply, will reduce global warming, stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and increase per capita income and social justice and environmental protection in all areas. The purpose of this study is to investigate farmers' preferences for using solar energy in Sari. The Choice Experiment methods allow researchers to focus on valuing final changes as multidimensional features rather than discrete changes. Choosing between options encourages respondents to examine their preferences in detail related to different management programs. The Choice Experiment test approach consists of several steps, which include designing the Choice Experiment test, determining the sample size and method of data collection, estimation process, and modeling the Choice Experiment test. Designing a Choice Experiment test consists of five important steps which are defining attributes, determining the relevant levels, conducting an experimental design, constructing Choice sets, and measuring preferences. After determining the criteria affecting the prioritization of renewable energy, liketechnical, environmental, economic, social, and political criteria, in order to investigate the willingness to Pay of Sari farmers, a test questionnaire was designed. The criteria obtained from the review of prioritization of renewable energy were considered as the attributes of the Choice Experiment and the price attribute was added to the above criteria. A total of six technical, economic, social, political, environmental, and price attributes were considered to investigate farmers' willingness to pay. In the review of the studies and the current situation, the levels of each of the attributes were determined. To determine the levels of price attribute, these points were considered; the price of agricultural electricity per kilowatt-hour is 383 Rials, which was approximately 400 Rials for the current situation. To investigate the farmers' preferences for using solar energy, 98 questionnaires of farmers in Sari were completed in September 2019. Each questionnaire included 8 choice set cards and each card included three options, based on which, the number of observations in Sari is equal to 2352 observations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the preferences of farmers in Sari for the use of solar energy. For this purpose, the Multinomial logit, the Random parameter logit, the latent class, and the Random parameter logit latent class are used. Based on the results of the Multinomial logit method, environmental and price attributes at the level of one percent and economic attribute at the level of five percent are statistically significant, but political, social, and technical attributes are not statistically significant. The Alternative-specific Constants (ASC) in the first and second options are not statistically significant. Based on the results of the Random Parameter Logit estimation method, environmental, economic and price attributes are statistically significant at the level of one percent. Technical, political, and social attributes are not statistically significant, which shows that farmers do not make a significant difference between these two attributes. The Alternative-specific Constants (ASC) are significant in the first option at the level of five percent and the second option at the level of one percent. The results of latent class estimation show that in the first class, environmental, economic, political, social, and price attributes are statistically significant at the level of one percent and technical attribute at the level of ten percent. The Alternative-specific Constants (ASC) are statistically significant at the level of one percent in the first class. In the second class, technical attribute at the level of five percent and environmental attribute at the level of ten percent are significant, besides other attributes in the second class are not statistically significant. The most sensitive class is the first class and farmers of the second class are considered the base class. The results obtained from the Bayesian and Akaike criteria of different classes showed that the two classes have the lowest values of BIC and AIC criteria and the class is appropriate. After determining the appropriate class, the model was estimated. The results of model estimation were calculated by the Latent Class Random Parameter logit method. In the first class, environmental attributes and price are significant at the level of one percent and economical attributes at the level of five percent. Also, the Alternative-specific Constants (ASC) is significant at the level of one percent, but, in the second class, the attributes are not statistically significant. Technical, environmental, economic, political, social, and price attributes, as well as the option of status quo or the Alternative-specific Constants (ASC) in the second class, do not affect farmers' utility due to the lack of statistical significance. A comparison of the results obtained from the four methods shows that the highest value of the estimated coefficient for environmental attributes was in the latent class method and the lowest value was in the multinomial logit method; Comparison of fitted methods shows that the highest Log-likelihood is related to the latent class random parameter logit method and the lowest value is related to the multinomial logit method. Accordingly, the highest value of Akaike and Bayesian criteria is related to the multinomial logit method and the lowest value is related to the latent class random parameter logit method which is better than other methods according to the good fit criterion.

The cultivation of edible mushrooms is expanding rapidly due to its nutritional and medicinal values as well as its economic benefits. However, lack of knowledge and principled management may cause many problems for producers or even bring them closer to the bankruptcy brink. The first step to improve the efficiency of units is finding an appropriate method to measure it. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of the methods that is widely used to evaluate the relative efficiency of a homogenous set of DMUs. Despite the many advantages of this model, the high sensitivity of DEA to even a small change in the data reduces the validity of its results. In fact the conventional DEA assumes that input and output data are without any deviation. However, the observed values of the input and output data in real-life problems are sometimes imprecise or vague. So In this paper, to deal with uncertainty in data the linear robust optimization framework of Bertsimas and Sim (2004) was used to compare technical efficiency of Iranian mushroom-producing provinces and determine the optimum use of inputs.
According to the purpose of this study, a robust data envelopment analysis (RDEA) model with imprecise inputs and outputs was used. The method is based on the robust optimization approach of Bertsimas and Sim (2004) which with the introduction of the conservative parameter (Γ) for each constraint, adjusts robustness in an optimisation model against the level of conservatism of the solution. The value of Γ is dependent on the maximum probability of constraint violation (p) and numbers of uncertain data in every constraint (n). So this RDEA model allows adjustment of level of robustness of the solution to trade-off between protection against constraint violation and conservatism of efficiency scores. In order to estimate the models, the GAMS software was used and related data was gathered from Statistical Center of Iran.
In this paper to distinguish the causes of technical inefficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were measured. According to the results of this model, at all levels of P, the pure technical efficiency was higher than the scale efficiency and technical efficiency, and its value was higher than 98% in all cases. This indicates that mushroom producers have a high level of knowledge and skills in this field and shows that the cause of low technical efficiency of the producers is their non-optimal scale. In addition, according to the results of both RDEA and DEA models, the most important input that has caused the inefficiency of the units is the "seed cost" input and with optimal use of this input, the cost of that can be reduced by about 70% (in ε=0.1 and P=1). Another result of this study is that with the reduction of the Probability of constraint violation, the rate of technical efficiency has decreased. For example in ε=0.1, if P is reclined from 1 (no protection against uncertainty) to 0.8 and 0.1, the average technical efficiency is reduced from 93% to 89% and 85% respectively. Also when ε is increased from 10 to 20 and 30 percent (in P=0.1) the average technical efficiency is reduced from 85 to 83 and 82 percent. On the contrary by reducing P, the percentages of reduction compare to the actual value is increased. For instance by reducing P from 1 to 0.8 and 0.1 the percentages of reduction of "seed cost" are decreased from 70% to 78% and 80% respectively. This results highlights the importance of using RDEA models to more conformity of the results to the real world.
Based on the results the low technical efficiency of the producers is because of their non-optimal scale. Therefore, it is recommended to consider the optimal size unit for those who want to enter this activity. On the other hand, the policymakers should improve access to facilities so the small units could enlarge their unit if it's necessary. Also considering the experience of successful mushroom farms, self-reliance in production of mushroom seeds can greatly reduce inefficiency of the units. Eventually considering that the level of uncertainty has a great impact on the efficiency results and the optimal level of inputs, future researches on the appropriate level of uncertainty according to the real conditions of production can improve the results of the RDEA model.

With increasing the global population, food security is one of the most important and practical concepts which has been addressed in development documents today. Among the green products which are produced and have been considered by the authorities is green poultry. Governmental support can be a key factor in green poultry marketing development, thus green poultry producers who work for the health of the community should have governmental support. Based on studies on the key factors influencing the development of green marketing, the overall goal of this study is to investigate the role of the government in increasing and improving green poultry production, as well as the importance of governmental support in developing green poultry production programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of governmental support on green poultry marketing development. The objectives of this study are as follows:
To describe some of the personal and professional characteristics of green poultry actors;
To determine the impact of government financial support on green poultry marketing development;
To determine the impact of product export facilitation and import control on green poultry marketing development;
To determine the impact of awareness on green poultry marketing development.

This is an applied study based on quantitative research, and the method of analysis used is correlation method. Information was informally obtained from experts, and the sample size in this study base on the Cochran formula was 150 people involved in the production, pricing, promotion, and distribution of green poultry. They are referred to as actors. The study was conducted as a census study because of the small size of the population of experts, finally 128 usable questionnaires were obtained from interviews with the actors. The main instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire that was designed as a Likert scale. This study contained two types of variables: 1) green poultry marketing development as dependent variable and 2) government financial support, export facilitation and import control and awareness as independent variables. The hypotheses were measured by studying the relationships between the variables and their direct and indirect effects. The hypotheses in this study are as follows: H1) Government financial support has a significant effect on green poultry marketing development; H2) export facilitation and import control have a significant impact on green poultry marketing development and H3) awareness has a significant effect on green poultry marketing development. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a general approach to data analysis that can accommodate either observable or latent variables (or factors) within structural models. This study used descriptive statistics and SEM. Following data mining, descriptive statistics and SEM analysis were conducted by SPSS20 and AMOS20 software, respectively.

The results showed that of the 128 respondents, 4 (3.1%) were female and 124 (96.9%) were male; the average age and average work experience of the respondents were 40 and 9 years, respectively. Of the actors, 35.2% had an associate’s degree. The actors’ knowledge of green marketing was measured by a test (correct or wrong answers); the results indicated that their average level of green marketing knowledge was moderate. According to the

1) Government financial support has a significant effect on green poultry marketing development, 2) Facilitating exports and controlling imports have a significant impact on green poultry marketing development , and 3) Awareness has a significant effect on green poultry marketing development.

In Iran, due to the lack of specific government policies related to organic products, there is little potential for organic poultry production. Thus, government agencies and policy makers should consider specific policies such as the following: allocating funds to develop organic production infrastructures; undertaking preparations and providing governmental support to attract foreign investors; allocating targeted funds to construct modern slaughter houses by European standards; and increasing governmental support to increase the ability of actors to produce organic products. Policies that can be effective in solving the problems of exporters include the following: concluding bilateral or multilateral trade agreements with export destination countries to reduce tariffs on imports from Iran; supporting the branding of this product; and providing stability through effective and efficient export laws and export guarantees proposed to facilitate the export of green poultry. In the awareness variable, the items "information through effective media" and "training of specialized poultry farmers" were the most important. Therefore, building trust and culture through advertising and media can be useful for both consumers and producers. Additionally, to increase awareness, holding festivals, exhibitions, and conferences can lead to the development of green marketing.

 Today, the food-energy nexus is a vital issue. Energy in the food production chain is an essential feature of agricultural development and a critical factor in achieving food security. Energy use in the agricultural sector has increased to respond to the growing demand of the population, as well the limited supply of cultivated lands, and the desire for high standards of living. Therefore, the agricultural sector is heavily dependent on energy that affects agricultural prices. Agricultural price fluctuations are one of the most critical challenges for policymakers. The rapid rise in food prices has a significant negative impact on social welfare, especially the poor in developing countries, which is an issue that is more critical in developing countries than in developed countries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report in 2018, the food world price index increased from 89.6 to 229.9 during the period from 2002 to 2011. Our literature review shows a distinct lack of research on modeling and analyzing the linkage between agricultural input price shock, especially energy and agricultural commodity prices in Iran.

The Markov Switching model is a popular non-linear time-series model that involves multiple equations and can characterize the time-series behaviors in different regimes. This model is suitable for describing correlated data that exhibit distinct dynamic patterns during different periods. So, considering the sensitivity of food security and the impact of agricultural input, the main objective of this paper is to develop an econometric model to gain reliable insight into the impact of energy consumption on agricultural inflation, using the Markov Switching approach. To estimate this equation, we will run a MS-AR model, some preliminary tests, such as unit root test and stability test, are employed to ensure the reliability of MS-AR estimation results.

Due to use of time series data, it is necessary to check the stationary status of variables. We performed a common non-linear unit root test (Kapetanios, Shin and Shell (KSS), Zivot and Andrews, Lee and Strazicich). These results reveal that we can significantly reject the null hypothesis of unit root for API, PPI, FPI, and EC, implying that all four variables considered in this study are stationary with structural breaks at levels. The Markov-Switching model has the various types that each of these is a particular component of the regime-dependent equation. Therefore, to choose the best type, the Akaike information criterion was used, and the model with the minimum value was selected as the optimal one. After model estimation and selection, the LR test indicated that the hypothesis of linearity could be rejected in favor of a Markov switching model. According to this model, the period of the Markov switching model estimation is classified into two regimes. Approximately, all the estimated coefficients of the MSIAH (2) - AR (5) model are found to be significant at the conventional level.

The estimation results are consistent with theoretical foundations illustrating the importance of input prices and energy consumption on agricultural commodity prices. As with most experimental studies reviewed, this study has also shown energy consumption has a negative impact on agricultural commodity prices. In other words, it can be contended that during the study period, agricultural input prices have been influential factors on agricultural commodity prices. The findings revealed that the low inflation rate and high inflation rate regimes are stable and that only extreme events can switch regimes. The results of the MS model showed that the effect of input prices on agricultural inflation is different in regimes. In the case of energy, the impact of energy consumption on agricultural commodity prices in the high inflation rate regime is less than the low inflation rate regime because the elimination of energy subsidies policy has been applied in the second regime (high inflation rate). Thus, the results indicate the asymmetric impact of energy consumption shocks on agricultural commodity prices. The effect of agricultural input prices on agricultural commodity prices indicates that Iranian agriculture is significantly affected by changes in input prices. In this study, changes in input prices were caused by various shocks, such as the elimination of energy subsidies and drought. Therefore, it can be concluded that the elimination of energy subsidies and drought were, directly and indirectly, able to affect agricultural inflations through the price of inputs. In conclusion, planners and policymakers must pay attention to this asymmetry in agricultural commodity prices volatility to increase the price stability in agriculture as much as possible by appropriate policy tools.

In this study, the effectiveness of granting facilities to water saving pool projects and developing greenhouse crops in the agricultural sector of Khorasan Razavi province was evaluated. Investment is one of the most important factors for economic growth in the countries. Purposeful banking facilities are one of the most important factors in increasing investment and boosting production and can provide the necessary ground for improving the welfare of the community. Hence, today one of the main goals of the government's economic policy is to push resources and bank credits towards productive and capital activities. Also, one of the most limiting inputs for agricultural sector development in Iran is capital. But, the most important question of the capital market is how effective this facility was?

This research is based on descriptive-survey and considering that its variables occurred in the past, it is categorized as case-study research. Statistical population of this study contains experts of Agricultural Jihad Organization of Khorasan Razavi province in fields of water saving pool projects and greenhouse crops development, utilizers of agricultural sector who used facilities of water saving pool projects and development of greenhouse crops plans and also supervising experts of those plans. Sample size of utilizations and supervising experts in each of water saving pool and development of greenhouse crops projects is calculated based on Morgan Table sample size calculator. For this purpose, firstly, by using the Delphi technique, the effectiveness indicators of granting facilities to water saving pool projects and developing greenhouse crops in the form of dimensions: program logic, quality of implementation, results of design and effectiveness, were extracted and then the situation Facility grants to the projects were reviewed during 2011-2012. Finally, by structural equations, the effectiveness of the factors influencing the effectiveness of grant facilities to the plans was measured. The results showed that the logic of granting facilities is of high level and among its indicators; the degree of compliance of facilities with upstream documents is the most logic. The quality of performance of the facility is low and among its indicators, the proportionality of the type and amount of bank guarantee, and the rate of interest repayment with the expected rate of return has the lowest performance.

Results shows that logic of  facilities granted to the water saving pool projects and development plans of greenhouse crops  performed in high level and equivalent to (73/2 %)  and (71/3%) respectively. Also among the logic indicators of program of granting facility to mentioned projects and plans, compliance rate of project facilities with the upstream developing documents is at the highest level of logic. In terms of performance quality , facilities granted to the water saving pool and development of greenhouse crops projects, performed in low level  and equivalent to (41/4%) and (38/3%) respectively. Also among the performance quality indicators of granting facilities to mentioned projects, indicators of proportion of type and amount of bank guarantee according to utilization capability, the interest rate proportion of repayment of the facility at the expected rate of return and proportion of repayment amount and utilization capability, respectively had lowest quality of performance and caused disaffection of utilizations. operational results of  granting facilities to water saving pools and development of greenhouse crops projects have almost a moderate level and equivalent to (56/5%) and (55/7%) respectively. Also according to indicators of operational performances of mentioned projects, success indicators of granting facilities and compliance rate of project details and operational plans, have the least expected operational performance rate respectively.
The results of study also indicated that efficiency of granting facilities to water saving pool as well as development of greenhouse crops projects have almost a mediocre level equivalent to (56/8%) and (55/6%) respectively. Among the efficiency of granting facilities to water saving pool project, indicators of Level of cultivation, increase of production, and increase of sustainable employment, standing in first to third rank respectively. Also product quality improvement index has the least efficiency. Among the indicators of the effectiveness of the granted facilities to the project of development of greenhouse crops, product quality improvement, efficiency increase, value added and performance improvement indicators have the least efficiency.
 

Generally, results of interviews with utilizers and experts shows that facilities granted to examined utilization by agricultural sector of Khorsan Razavi province among these years of Research, have not been effective mostly due to various factors such as unfavorable economic conditions prevailing in the period under study, Changes in rules and regulations, Frostbite, Drought and Finally, the lack of support and assistance from the banking system.Therefore, it is recommended to officials of this section to create a proportion between the returns and the rate of interest repayment, the assistance of banks with the affected operators and, in particular, the development of insurance for agricultural products.

In addition to serving medical and cultural functions, medicinal plants have economic importance as well. Global and national markets for medicinal plants are growing and significant economic gains are achieved through the sale of herbal medicinal products. Examining the value chain of medicinal plants will help to improve and connect the production and supply network of these products. In this study Damask Rose has been selected in Khorasan Razavi province with the aim of analyzing the value chain of this medicinal plant.  Its issues can be investigated in each part of the production network to the supply of this plant and obstacles can be removed or new loops could be created in value chain.

Planning from production to delivery of goods to the final consumer in the form value chain can help to meet the needs of consumers. Value chain is generally defined as a physical network and decision-making activities that are related to the flow of goods and information between organizations and individuals. There are several methods that can provide analysis of value chain performance. Some of the best known methods are: Score model, balanced scorecard, Data-coverage analysis, Life cycle analysis, Activity-based costing, SWOT analysis method. The SWOT model is used in this research. Statistics and information required for this research were obtained through face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. In each of the loops, a number of samples were selected. For example leading producers were selected in the loop of producers that have more than 80% of the province's production and are interviewed in 5 counties.

Damask Rose production is cost-effective in terms of water consumption in Iran and Khorasan Razavi province because it requires little water and usually requires irrigation between 12 and 18 days. Between 1 and 3 tons of Damask Rose can be harvested from each hectare. The major five counties in the production of Damask Rose which have allocated about 80% of the production of Khorasan Razavi province, including the Mashhad (55.3%), Torbat Heydariyeh (13.1%), Zaveh (4.7%), Kalat (3.6%) and Khaf (3.5%). Three channels are drawn for the Damask Rose value chain. Channel one consists of 6 loops: supplier, manufacturer, small-scale processor, intermediary, retailer, consumer. Channel two includes 6 loops: supplier, manufacturer, intermediary, small-scale processor, retailer, consumer, and channel three includes 5 loops: supplier, manufacturer, large-scale processor, exporter (or retailer), Consumer (internal and external). In the desired chain a suitable model for Damask Rose is presented. The difference of this model is transportation and packaging and other removable inputs which are supported by the processor with the help of "contract farming" and are provided to the producer or the farmer. In fact, the processor acts as a local backer for the Damask Rose value chain and this action will cause the necessary standards required by the processor to produce the desired product which will be raised with the inputs that he was responsible for providing them. There is an emphasis on the specialization of market of Damask Rose processors in the favorable value chain. In other words, there is a need to create new processors (or diversification of the type of processing) to differentiate the market of large-scale processors. These separate processors are for to achieve export target market. Strategies were selected based on SWOT analysis.

we would move towards better production if the parts of the value chain that generate the most added value are produced by greater and bigger companies. the important point of this discussion is the findings of this study and the proposed model based on value chain would help to identify the distribution of value added at different stages of the chain, as well increase the focus on profitable parts of the value chain, and also concentrate resources and efficient manpower in more value-added areas.  Missing links in the Damask Rose value chain include:  1) Creating cosmetics, 2) Production of essential oils with special brand, 3) Establishment of processing enterprises in four counties of Zaveh, Kalat, Khaf and Gonabad, 4) Establishing a flower-drying workshop, and 5) Using conventional agriculture. By placing these loops in the right place, the creative added value can be increased. Six strategies to cover the above missing loops include :1) Development of Damask Rose processing, 2) Commercialization of Damask Rose production, 3) Diversification of processed products, 4) Attraction of new export markets, 5) Development of research related to production , and 6) Execution "Contract farming".