فهرست مطالب مصطفی احمدوند

This study aimed to model and analyze the behavior of villagers in the Dasht-Room district regarding the conservation and exploitation of edible-medicinal plants, utilizing the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and a descriptive correlation method. The statistical population included rural households in villages with at least 20 households in the Dasht-Room district (2807 households). Using Bartlett et al.'s sampling table, 119 households constituted the statistical sample. The data collection tool was a researcher-created questionnaire based on the PMT variables, which was validated by a panel of experts. To measure the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted outside the study site, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.62-0.87) was calculated. The resulting coefficients indicated satisfactory reliability of the questionnaire. After data collection, the data were entered into SPSS21 software and analyzed using descriptive and inferential tests. The results showed that conservation behavior is moderate among the samples studied. The PMT variables are also significantly related to conservation behavior. In this regard, behavioral intention and self-efficacy had the strongest correlation. Based on hierarchical regression analysis, the mentioned variables effectively and significantly contributed to explaining the variance in conservation behavior. A path analysis indicated that “behavioral intention,” “perceived severity,” “response cost,” and “self-efficacy” had the greatest impact on conservation behavior. Emphasizing that protecting the environment is a shared responsibility, it is advised to use radio and television to promote the growth of medicinal plants suitable for each region's climate and to offer free seeds to those who request them.

Today, the rising demand for water coupled with diminishing water reserves has led to increased conflicts among water users. This research was conducted using a cross-sectional survey method, focused on analyzing water conflicts among Taghar River users. The statistical population included 230 rice farmers utilizing Taghar river water in Choram County, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran. Following the sample size calculation table by Karjesi and Morgan, 140 rice farmers from this region were selected as the statistical sample using a random stratified sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used as the data collection tool, validated by subject experts, and its reliability was confirmed through a pilot study and calculation of Cronbach''s alpha coefficient (α ≤ 0.70) and composite reliability. Data analysis was performed using SPSS26 and SmartPLS3 software. The research findings revealed the presence of interpersonal water conflicts among rice farmers as well as conflicts between farmers and water organizations in the region. The R2 coefficient indicated that the independent variables (behavioral intention and perceived behavioral control) explained over 57.10% of the variation in conflict behavior. Behavioral intention (β=0.480) and perceived behavioral control (β=0.311) had the most significant direct impact, while societal norms surrounding the conflict (β=0.190) and attitude towards the conflict (β=0.127) had the most substantial indirect influence on water conflict behavior among the farmers studied. The study recommends building trust and involving rice farmers in river water management through the establishment of water users’ associations, along with conducting educational workshops on negotiation techniques and conflict management to effectively address conflicts among them.

Nowadays, general agricultural policies are moving towards sustainable agriculture, and this is despite the fact that countries suffer from a big problem called drought and climate change, especially in the field of this important economic sector. Accordingly, the correct understanding of the comprehensive conditions for growing an agricultural product is one of the significant principles of sustainable agriculture, and in this regard, general policies should be changed from cultivating water-intensive crops to less water-consuming ones. Therefore, according to the current programs, one of the policies considered for the region studied in this research, Lanjan County, located in the southwest of Isfahan province, was the change of cultivation from rice to beans, this research aimed at studying the feasibility of changing from rice to beans. The statistical population of the research included experts from the Agricultural Jihad Organization, experts from the farmers' trade union system (N=50) and rice farmers of Lanjan County (N=270). The sample size was determined by applying Cochran's formula based on which 40 experts and 130 farmers were selected randomly for the study. Data were collected by a questionnaire and were analyzed using SPSS software. The results of the single-sample t-test showed that from the farmers' point of view, the average of production factors (3.33), management (3.35) and attitude (3.44) and from the experts' point of view, the average of most factors including relative advantage (3.37), timing (3.56), production (3.60), attitude (3.74), management (3.46) and background (3.44), obtained significantly higher than the average (3) and therefore higher than optimal. In this regard, the conditions for changing cultivation from rice to beans were evaluated as favorable. Therefore, based on the findings of the research, from the respondents' point of view, it is possible to change cultivation from rice to beans. Finally, some suggestions such as the guaranteed purchase of bean products by the government to provide the market and reduce the price fluctuation of bean products were presented.

It is an undeniable principle that any activity done by humans on nature has effects on nature. In fact, these effects are a perspective of human activities and knowing them can show the strengths and weaknesses of programs. Therefore, specifying the type of changes, the factors involved in it and the consequences arising from it can have a significant impact on the better management of the programs and as a result reducing the negative consequences resulting from it and ultimately the successful implementation and stabilization of the programs. Therefore, the aim of the current research was to investigate the social, economic and environmental effects of the Garmabad village watershed project from the perspective of the watershed residents of this area in order to provide a suitable basis for the development of the project by evaluating the effects of the project and preparing and compiling basic solutions.

This research was a survey-based one. The statistical population of the study included all household heads (N=895) in Garmabad village located in Marvdasht county of Fars province, out of which 112 people were selected as the statistical sample by simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire within which the face validity was confirmed based on the opinions of a number of subject-matter experts and its reliability was obtained by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for different parts of the questionnaire (0.65-0.84). The questionnaire consisted of two parts, in the first part, using 50 items in the form of a five-level Likert scale, the perception of the residents of the region about the effects (economic, social and environmental) of the watershed project was investigated, while the second part was allocated to investigate the personal and professional characteristics respondents. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software. Some methods of descriptive statistics (such as frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (such as exploratory factor analysis) were used to analyze the data.

The results of factor analysis showed that in the field of environmental effects, four categories of factors such as creating a beautiful landscape and improving of infrastructure, controlling erosion and increasing the pasture area, rainfall productivity, and flood control and improving the village health status were able to explain 67.88% of variance of the effects of the environmental impacts. As a result of implementing the watershed plan with flood control, preventing soil erosion, sedimentation, increasing the area of pastures and vegetation, increasing underground water and wells, increasing water quality, etc., the productivity of water and soil has increased. Therefore, considering the arid and semi-arid conditions of the country and the importance of these two important factors on sustainable development, especially in rural areas, the attention of the government and the authorities for more investments and more principled policies in the field of implementation and comprehensive management of natural resources projects is essential for optimal use of water and soil.In the economic field, five factors including increasing the amount and the level of production, reducing production costs, increasing ownership and assets, increasing credits and rural development, and employment and income generation were the most important economic factors of the watershed management plan, which explained 71.80% of the variance in total. The results of this study show that the implementation of this plan has been able to solve the economic problems of the villagers to a large extent by increasing the amount of production and reducing production costs, increasing job opportunities, etc. Therefore, since the implementation of this project has been evaluated positively in improving the welfare of the villagers, it is better to develop this operation in villages that have the conditions to implement these projects.In the social field, the five factors including participation and cooperation, community stabilization, awareness improvement, institutional pursuit, and cultural exchange were able to explain 69.56% of the variance. According to the results obtained with the implementation of the project, the solidarity and interaction between the people of the village has increased and a suitable ground has been provided for cultural exchanges and tourism development. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that the success of any project depends on social and cultural issues in addition to technical and executive issues, and people's active participation is very effective, especially in watershed management projects.

The results of this research generally show that the watershed project had many positive effects on the studied area. Therefore, in order to improve the project, it is recommended to take advantage of the capabilities of local communities and stakeholders in this context, and it is effective to consider the interests of the beneficiaries in designing and implementing the plan, using their local knowledge, using the influence of local leaders to attract the participation of villagers, etc.

Saffron is a permanent plant and one of the products of the eastern part of Iran, its onion can grow between 5 and 7 years, and this causes a change in the characteristics of the soil, which is very suitable for the environment. On the other hand, due to its high economic efficiency, in recent years, many activities have been carried out by relevant organizations such as Agriculture Jihad Organization (AJO) to promote its cultivation in cultivable areas. However, despite this planning and promotional activities, its cultivation has not yet been welcomed in some areas. Based on this, the purpose of this study was to explain the effects of saffron cultivation in the Mukhtar region of Boyerahmad County located in southwestern of Iran.

The purpose of this research was to explain the effects of saffron cultivation in the Mukhtar region of Boyerahmad County, for this purpose, a causal- comparative research method was used. With consultation from relevant experts, including the Provincial Agricultural Jihad Organization, the Agricultural Jihad Service Center of Southern Sarroud area, two villages named Mukhtar and Firouzabad, chosen as the villages accepted and non-accepted saffron cultivation respectively. After that, according to Kerjcie and Morgan's sampling table, 235 households were selected as a research sample, and then simple random sampling with proportional assignment were used to determine the study participants. To collect the data, a researcher- constructed questionnaire was used, and to determine the validity of the different parts of the questionnaire, the face validity method with the opinion of the relevant experts and previous research, as well as successive corrections and revisions were used. Finally, to determine the reliability of the Likert scale, Cronbach's alpha was used. Cronbach's alpha coefficient scores indicated the optimality of the questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques such as mean, standard deviation, paired t-test, independent t-test and covariance analysis were used to analyze quantitative data and test hypotheses. Data processing was done using SPSS software version 21 in the Windows environment.

Overall, the findings of the research showed positive economic, social and environmental effects of saffron cultivation in Mukhtar village (accepting saffron cultivation) compared to Firouzabad village (not accepting saffron cultivation). In order to be almost sure that these improvements in Mukhtar village were due to the cultivation of saffron cropping, covariance analysis was used. According to the obtained results, it can be stated that the increase and improvement in development status of the study area (including economic, social and environmental aspects) in the village accepting saffron cultivation compared to the village not accepting saffron cultivation, was the result of cultivation of the mentioned product. Other findings of the research showed that the economic effects have improved by 36% through factors such as increasing the amount of savings, more suitable sales of the product than the past, reducing the cost of planting the product, etc. Also, the social effects have improved by 41% in terms of factors such as satisfaction and welcome of buyers, creation of cooperatives, active participation in training classes, etc. In addition to these, environmental effects, through factors such as less use of fertilizers and chemical poisons, less use of underground water, etc., as a result of saffron cultivation, there has been a 23% improvement and development in the region.

In general, and according to the results of the research, the cultivation of saffron in the studied area has improved the development of the total effects about 30%. Also, the results showed that the greatest effect of saffron cultivation was in the social scope and the least effect was in the environmental scope.

Considering that social impact assessment is a social prerequisite for solving social problems andinefficiencies, and even one of the most important starting points for economic growth, and providesopportunities for fundamental application of the foundations of sustainable development. Therefore, it isnecessary to pay attention to the social dimension and focus on assessing this dimension in order to provide ageneral conclusion of the social impacts of sustainable development measures and programmes. However,literature studies show that there are few studies on the description and interpretation of social impactassessment methods despite the importance and attractiveness of assessing this dimension in sustainabledevelopment measures. Despite the availability of metrics to measure social impact, it is difficult to choose toolsthat meet the exact needs of social science researchers. In order to address this challenge, the main goal of thecurrent research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the common and widely used tools for measuringsocial effects in social projects, which has been done using a systematic review of the subject literature. Fromthis point of view, in this study, the model of George Z. L. Brady has been used as one of the most importantstandard methods for the comparative comparison of these tools in the form of four stages of description,interpretation, juxtaposition and comparison. The results show that there is not always one best method andeach method definitely does not rule out other methods. On the other hand, each method is not better thananother method, and the choice of the best method depends on factors such as the research field, research topic,research design, choosing suitable and appropriate methods, reviewing the choices made, re-examining thequestions, the nature of the problem, and others. There are underlying factors.

Frost as one of the environmental crises accompanying climate change phenomenon has caused significant annual economic losses in the agricultural sector production. This survey research was carried out with the aim of analyzing frost protection practices among apple orchardists of Kakan Dehestan, Boyer Ahmad county (N = 1241, n=112). The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Face validity confirmed by a panel of experts. In order to measure reliability, a pilot study was conducted and Cronbach's alpha coefficient estimated (0.69< α <0.89). Based on the results, the most frequent behaviors among the gardeners were predictive behaviors and the use of technological measures was the least prevalent ones. Orchardists were clustered into two groups of compatible organizers and incompatible procrastinators. The results of the t-test analysis showed that the two groups had adopted different behaviors regarding the protection of gardens in dealing with frost; in such a way that the group of compatible organizers was significantly different from the group of incompatible procrastinators in terms of forecasting actions, planning actions, control actions, traditional actions, and techno-innovational actions. Results of the logistic regression showed that orchardists with more coping appraisal, threat appraisal and household size and less physical costs were more likely to adapt protection behaviors. According to the findings of the research it is necessary to develop frost protection measures through encouragement of gardeners via incentive policies, establishing gardeners' organizations and group formation to deal with frost protection.

Dams have always had consequences by creating changes in the surrounding natural and human ecosystems. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of Eyvashan Dam on the surrounding rural areas. The methodology was quantitative in nature with the type of applied research and was approached in a descriptive survey manner. The statistical population of the study was 128 households living in the villages around Eyvashan Dam. Totally, 90 households were estimated as sample size according to Bartlett and colleagues’ sample size table and were selected by performing a random proportional distribution of the samples in the four villages of Eyvashan Golestan, Chakmeh Siyah Olia (Galeh Hadi), Goldarreh, and Chaghalvand Rood Olya. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire within which the face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was also confirmed by conducting a pilot study and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0.621-0.879). Findings showed that the construction of Eyvashan Dam has affected the components of the economic factors and these effects have been additive. Findings also showed that the Dam affected all social components across local communities in the way that conflict was more noticeable among them, with a decrease compared to the past (-0.318). Results also revealed the variety of diverse impacts among the surrounding villages. Filially, according to the results and the status of the components in the studied villages, suggestions have been made to improve the situation.

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector (managers and farm operators) do not understand the products of these interactions due to the wide range of issues related to the "planning", "production" and even "consumer market". Lack of understanding the interactions between social, economic and environmental parameters leads to manifold challenges in the field of cropping production. Price fluctuation is a multifaceted problem attributed by various factors which, when combined, culminate in dangerous consequences for the most farmers .Challenges that have caused crop prices to fluctuate over a period of time, a sharp decline in area under crop, and a long-term decline in farmers' livelihoods. To obviate' this challenge, this study provided a dynamic model for assisting agricultural stakeholders' decisions in the agricultural planning process. The model mentioned in this study, referred to as the "decision-making model", seeks to understand the complexity of the agricultural planning space in the southern region of Sistan and Baluchestan. This model includes a set of dependent factors and drivers in the agricultural plan of the region that aims to understand the feedback of stakeholders' decisions in the agricultural sector and modeling and ultimately simulating their behavior. The DPSIR framework and then VENSIM software were used to evaluate the decision feedback in a decision model. So that first with the help of DPSIR framework the drives affecting on crop program planning of the region are classified and then with the help of VENSIM software modeling and various scenarios are simulated. The results of this study showed that policy makers can provide the conditions for creating good agriculture in the study area by focusing on the components of stress (derived from the DPSIR framework), which are mainly subsistence components. The results of this study in the study area show that many of the components used in crop planning will not lead to improvement or serious damage to the production stability of the study area (onions and tomatoes). In other words, it is possible to help improve and stabilize production in the region by controlling key factors such as reducing the vulnerability of farmers' livelihoods to price fluctuations.

Efficient agricultural extension agents with desirable professional qualifications are the drivers of agricultural development. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of explaining the professional competencies needed by agricultural parcels’ extension agents in the Boyar-Ahmad County using descriptive-correlational survey method. The statistical population of the research was the agricultural parcels’ extension agents in the Boyar-Ahmad county (N=126). Using the sampling table of Bartlett et al., 84 extension agents were estimated as the sample size and distributed among the population in a simple random manner. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and subject specialists. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by conducting a pilot study and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.90-0.70). The investigated professional competencies were categorized into seven areas, including personal, social, management and planning, research, education, scientific abilities, and agricultural practical skills. The findings showed that the status of all the professional competencies of the extension agents were at an average to above average level, among which, the possession of general competencies (individual and social skills) were ranked first while research and scientific abilities were ranked last. The results of cluster analysis of agricultural extension agents based on the seven professional competencies showed that the agents can be categorized into two categories based on levels of professional competencies: high-competent (n=33) and low-competent (n=51) agents. In addition, all the professional competencies were of great importance to the agents. Therefore, it is suggested to improve the know-how (technical expertise) knowledge and the agricultural practical skills of the extension agents in the fields of “how to cultivate all kinds of agricultural products” and “acquire problem-solving skills”.

Groundwater crisis has become a major problem in Lorestan province. Meanwhile, Aleshtar township is one of the cities affected by this crisis. While there are several reasons for the underlying groundwater crisis in the township, one of the most important challenges facing this township can be due to the institutional constraints by stakeholders involved in groundwater resources management. Thus, this study describes institutional constraints to groundwater resource management in Aleshtar using grounded theory approach. Participants were 24 key informants involved in the groundwater resources management in Aleshtar township that to select the samples, targeted sampling approach using snowball sampling technique was used. Thus, participants were interviewed in-depth and interviews were recorded and transcribed for qualitative analysis. In the present study, the result of open coding was the extraction of 170 concepts and 43 sub-categories. Based on the paradigm model, the core category identified in this research was “institutional structural and functional weakness” which found to be related to other categories of meanings. The result show that, the most important context conditions the occurrence of the phenomenon were “farmers weak financial vigor”, “cultural elements as barriers to groundwater resources management” and “traditional agriculture”. The results of research on the causal conditions affecting the occurrence of this phenomenon indicate “irregular and excessive harvesting of groundwater resources” and “weak control and monitoring” as the most important causes. In this study, “climate change” and "poor performance of secondary institutions involved in groundwater resources management" were among the most important intervening condition that have led to the intensification of the phenomenon. The most important action/interaction strategies of institutions to overcome the phenomenon were the sub-categories of “implementing water engineering and control” and “farmers participation”. Finally, implementing action/interaction strategies can have both positive and negative consequences. The most important positive consequences was “improvements to farming”. However, the most important negative consequences included “destruction of natural resources” and “occurrence of economic problems” and “occurrence of social problems”.

Today, considerable interest in urban agriculture is being manifested by policy makers, government agencies and academics due to its contribution to food security and poverty alleviation in cities. Therefore, this research has evaluated the farmers’ viewpoints regarding peri-urban agriculture in Noorabad city with an emphasis on the dimensions of food security. The study population consisted of peri-urban farmers of Noorabad who had at least two hectares of cultivated land. Based on the sampling table of Bartlett and colleague, 123 people were selected and distributed randomly with proportional assignment. The findings showed that the studied farmers evaluated urban agriculture in improving the dimensions of effective food security, but the diversity of views was seen among them. Therefore, the studied farmers were classified into two groups (negative evaluator and positive evaluator) using cluster analysis. The findings also showed that these two groups have different attitudes toward urban agriculture. On the other hand, the results showed that there is a direct and significant relationship between the impact of urban agriculture on improving the dimensions of food security (availability, availability, utilization and stability) with the attitude towards urban agriculture.

The aim of the current research was to identify the factors influencing the acceptance of canola (Brassica napus) cultivation among the farmers of Boyer-Ahmad County. For this purpose, the integrated model of acceptance and use of technology was used. The statistical population of the research was the adopters and non-adopters of canola cultivation in the country. All adopters (35 people) and 118 non-adopters who were selected by random sampling with appropriate distribution were studied and investigated using the survey method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, which was developed based on the components of the theory, and its validity was revised and confirmed by a panel of academic experts. To measure the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted outside the statistical population, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0.67 to 0.93) obtained indicated the satisfactory reliability of the questionnaire. The collected data were loaded into SPSS21 statistical software and related statistical tests were taken. The findings of the research showed that the average score of "facilitating conditions", "expected performance" and "expected effort" in two groups of farmers showed a significant difference. Also, the findings from the discriminate analysis indicated that "facilitating conditions" had a greater share in the discrimination of the two groups of the farmers. Meanwhile, the results of the path analysis showed that "social influence" and "expected performance" had the greatest effect on the willingness to accept, and "facilitating conditions" had the greatest effect on the adoption behavior of canola cultivation.

Introduction:

 the necessity of paying attention to social and understandable aspects of social sustainability during the evaluation of development projects is one of the most important and key tools in planning and policies for growth and development by governments.

The overall paradigm of this mixed research is sequential-exploratory (qualitative-quantitative). In terms of controlling variables, it is non-experimental and in terms of purpose, it is an applied-developmental research. In the sequential-exploratory project, first the process of collecting and analyzing qualitative data is done and then these results are used for quantitative (questionnaire) section. Finally, both quantitative and qualitative analyses are interpreted and analyzed in one place.

The findings indicated the fact that social sustainability was maximum in the time constraints of the project implementation and among the components of social sustainability, the component of social participation was identified as important points and high effects on social sustainability.

The results of social sustainability assessment based on the social lifecycle approach can promote things such as creating a common view on comprehensive management of natural resources, sharing past information, advanced and planned development activities, better coordination of measures with existing investment, improving the design and regulation of future projects and plans, and identifying and addressing the main obstacles and bottlenecks for the development of successful approaches.

Soil degradation is one of the basic challenges in the agricultural development, whose prevention needs an improvement in soil conservation behavior of farmers. In this regard, in present study, an extended version of protection motivation theory was employed to analyze the soil conservation behavior of farmers who cultivate summer-crops in Dashtroom Dehestan. This research used survey method to collect data. Statistical population included summer crop growers in Boyer-Ahmad County (N=197). Out of them, 120 cases were selected as sample using Krejcie and Morgan’s Table. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts as well as practitioners. Furthermore, the reliability research tool was assessed in a pilot study using Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0.65-0.93). Results revealed that summer crop growers had moderate behavior regarding soil conservation. Estimating the model fit indices of the extended protection motivation model by partial least square analysis showed that the NFI and SRMR criteria were at a good level and the components of protection motivation theory could explain 18% of the changes in farmers’ soil conservation behavior. It should be mentioned that according to the results, “perceived severity” made a significant contribution to the total variance explanation. Therefore, it is recommended that farmers be informed about the consequences of negligence of soil conservation by means of visual demonstrations and extension programs.

Nowadays, modern crop cultivation like saffron is very important for increasing the productivity of soil and water resources under drought conditions and leaving the single-product economy and achieving sustainable economic development in susceptible areas. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of cultivation of this plant from the attitude of farmers in villages of Arsanjan County. The survey method was used in this study. The statistical population has consisted of all farmers in the villages of Arsanjan in the 2018-2019 crop year. One hundred and fifteen samples were selected and studied by simple random sampling with the proportional assignment. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire that the face and content validity was assessed by university professors and the reliability of its components achieved by a pilot study with Cronbach's alpha in the range of 0.5 to 0.8. The results of the t-test showed that saffron cultivation was possible with respect to the average value of the variables of farmer attitude (3.83) and the characteristics of crop innovation including comparative advantage (3.37), testability (3.20), adaptability (3.42) and visibility (3.14) in the area. Also, by cluster analysis, the studied farmers were divided into three groups: Poor Positive, Poor Moderate, and Poor Negative attitude regarding saffron cultivation. Fifty percent of farmers, who stay on the category of poor negative attitude, believed that there was an impossible condition about saffron cultivation with regard to their economic, social characteristics and their view of innovation. Finally, according to the results, suggestions were presented to facilitate the saffron cultivation in the area.

Sense of place is a factor that transforms the space into a place with special behavioral and emotional characteristics for people. This sense can lead to pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to assess the sense of place of local people and tourists in Cheshme Belgheis Garden of Choram and its relation to their pro-environmental behaviors. The research population of the study consisted of local people who were located at least 20 km from the garden and tourists who visited the Cheshme Belgheis Garden of Choram. The sample of the study included 96 local people and 96 tourists who visited the garden during the period of the study. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was obtained by performing a single study and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated for all seven different sense levels (0.80 to 0.90 ), indicating the desired reliability of the questionnaire. The results showed that both local people (3.93) and tourists (3.61) are at a desirable level in terms of sense of place and pro-environmental behavior. The results of comparing the means between the two groups of tourists and hosts also indicated that there is a significant difference between the two groups in terms of place sense. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in pro-environmental behavior. The results showed that there was no correlation between pro-environmental behavior and the sense of place of the two target groups. Finally considering the results of the study, some suggestions have been provided to improve the condition of the garden.

A spectacular increase in groundwater use for irrigation has taken place during the last half-century in most arid and semiarid countries especially Iran. Iran is currently among the top groundwater miners in the world. In fact, if the prevailing anarchy continues, serious problems may appear in the long term and the situation could become more tragic in the near future. While there are several reasons for the underlying groundwater crisis in the country, one of the most important challenges facing the country can be due to the institutional constraints by stakeholders involved in groundwater resources management. Thus, this study describes institutional constraints to groundwater resource management using Strauss and Corbin’s approach. Participants were 16 key informants involved in the groundwater resources management in Roumeshkan township. To select the samples, snowball sampling method was used. Thus, participants were interviewed in-depth and interviews were recorded and transcribed for qualitative analysis by Strauss and Corbin’s Grounded Theory. In the present study, encoding the collected data in different ways resulted in the extraction of 144 concepts and 41 sub-categories. Based on the paradigm model, the core category identified in this research was “mismanagement of groundwater resources” which was found to be related to other categories of meaning.

Rural tourism has a great potential for creating small businesses and can help develop employment. Accordingly, the purpose of this survey study was to identify the effects of tourism on the development of agriculture employment of rural women in Kakan district, Boyer-Ahmad county. The statistical population of the study included women from two villages targeted for tourism in the mentioned rural area. For this purpose, women aged 15-64 years were identified first (433 people), then according to the sampling table of Bartlett et al., 165 rural women were estimated as a sample and distributed proportionally among the two target villages. Questionnaire was the most important tool for data collection in the present study. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was also confirmed by conducting a pilot study and calculating the Theta coefficient (θ = 0.50). Factor analysis was used to analyze the data. In this context, KMO test was first used to measure the internal consistency of items. Based on the obtained results, the most obvious effects of tourism on employment of rural women were classified into six factors, which explained 59.27% ​​of the total variance of the factors. These six factors were named: Productive, Economic, Capital, Service, Welfare, and Social factors. Among the categories, the largest effect was related to the productive factor which explains 22.82% of the total variance and the smallest effect is related to the Social factor, which is 4.47% of the effects. Finally, it is suggested to establish employment offices and rural tourism entrepreneurship in the Islamic Council of the target villages in order to develop the employment of rural women in a targeted manner.

The present study was conducted to analyze wheat farmers’ behavior regarding water use and conservation in the Orzuiyeh County based on the theory of Social Cognition. The statistical population of the research was 1350 wheat farmers in the central district of the Orzuiyeh County that 135 of them were selected by using Bartlett et al. table of sample size. They were randomly selected. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire based on social cognition theory whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of academic and performance experts. The reliability was also determined by conducting a study and calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficients (0.58-0.86). The results of correlation analysis of the study variables showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between all the constructs of the theory (social structure factors, expectation of outcome, understanding of others behavior, self-efficacy and behavioral intention) and farmers' water management behavior. The results of multiple regression showed that the constructs of the theory predict a total of 36% of the variations of the management behavior of wheat farmers. In addition, the variables of understanding the behavior of others, self-efficacy and behavioral intention had significant influence on wheat farmers’ behavior of water use in the county. At the end, implications of the study for changing farmers’ behavior of water use are discussed.

Today, success in water and soil management and conservation programs to reduce soil erosion is one of the top priorities of all countries, including Iran and one of the prominent examples in this area is the use of conservation agriculture with the aim of achieving sustainable development and production and sustainable management of water and soil resources. The purpose of this study, was to spatial ranking and Leveling of selected wheat cultivation villages in southern Kerman based on conservation agriculture Approach. The research method was a descriptive-analytical study which was conducted using survey method. The statistical population consisted of wheat farmers in rural areas of southern Kerman. The sample size was estimated about 327 farmers using the Krejcie and Morgan table. The sampling method was proportional stratified random sampling method. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts, and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results of ranking the villages using VIKOR technique showed that HeydarAbad Chahsokhteh and Abass abad Tarh Ahrar with the coefficient scores of 0.004 and 0.018 ranked first and second, respectively, Furthermore, “Ferdoos” ranked the last by obtaining the coefficient scores of 0.994. Moreover, the results of spatial classification showed the existence of disparity and inequality between the studied villages at different levels. The results also revealed that 52.8% of rural areas were in the category of "favorable and desirable", 36.1% were in the category of "half-eaten", and 11.1% were in "deprived or undesirable" category. Eventually, due to the fact that 52.8% of rural areas were in the category of "favorable and desirable", it can be concluded that the studied rural areas were in a favorable position in terms of conservation agriculture.

Choosing crop pattern highly depends on mental schemas of the production actors. Therefore, analysis of these schemas is an essential step in organizing agricultural production in Iran. Hence, the purpose of the present study was to analyze the farmers’ and agricultural managers’ mental schemas in selecting the cropping pattern in the South of Sistan and Baluchestan province, using a descriptive-analytical method. For this purpose, first, the actors of agricultural sector were identified in Chabahar and Sarbaz Counties. Then, farmers’ and managers’ concepts for selecting farm planning were identified. Afterwards, the importance of these concepts were determined through Gray Theory. Finally, the combinations of farmers’ and managers’ concepts were clustered using a Hierarchical Dendrogram. The findings showed that the highest level of the score of crop planning concepts are related to crop profitability (0.962), optimum level of life (0.763) and production increase (0.773), respectively. Also, in this study, the classification of crop planning concepts highlights the importance of using “supportive levers” to improve crop planning in the studied area. Based on the results, it is clear that a comprehensive agricultural management system is required for "planning", "dynamic management", and "the way of farmers’ interaction with related organizations". Such infrastructure will reduce or eliminate the inefficient situation of information in terms of dispersion, multiplicity, inconsistency, incoherence, and etc; and ultimately confound decision makers.

Planning in the system of agricultural extension for systematic and balanced development in order to achieve food security requires identification, determination and presenting strategies that are compatible with the internal and external environment of the system. Therefore, the purpose of the present research was to identify, determine and present strategies to improve the functioning of the extension system to achieve food security. The statistical population of the study consisted of 130 agricultural policy makers and experts of agricultural extension and development the country who were surveyed. Delphi method was used in three rounds. The strategies were identified and refined in three Delphi rounds. Then, using content analysis technique, they were classified into two main categories: macro and local strategies. Macro strategies fall into three structural, infrastructure, and cultural sub-categories, and local strategies into four structural, infrastructure, research, and cultural sub-categories.Finally, Nvivo software was used to present a comprehensive paradigm of performance improvement strategies for achieving food security. The findings of the software showed that training of human resources in extension in the field of food security, paying attention to the tangible and intangible needs of the users, clarifying the functional areas of the promotion system to move towards food security, promoting knowledge and Updating training in line with global food safety standards is one of the most prominent strategies to improve agricultural extension performance to achieve food security.

The aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of environmental attitude and behaviour of students at Shahid Motahari agricultural vocational school of Shiraz. For this purpose, the survey method was used and the data collection was done using a questionnaire which was validated by a group of experts, and the reliability as measured by Cronbach’s alpha were 0.61 to 0.83 for various sectors. The population consisted of all the students in Shahid Motahari agricultural vocational school in the 92-93 school year. Based on Krejcie and Morgan's table of sample size, 80 students were selected through simple random sampling methodology. Findings revealed that second and third-year students have positive attitude and behaviour and environmental factors were in high average and student's access to resources of information is at a low level. Moreover, a significant difference in environmental attitudes of students in the second and third year was not observed. Other results showed that urban students than rural students believe that the crisis is in the environment and students, who showed interest in environmental issues, had a better attitude towards the environment. The regression model indicated that the reference group attitude and access to resources of information, and being farmers' offspring were as important variables in predicting the environmental attitudes of students.

In the context of the water crisis, it is essential to identify farmers’ water protection behavior and its determinants. Therefore, the present study was conducted using Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a basis for identification of the main determinants of Orzuiyeh County wheat farmers’ water protection behavior under water crisis. The research design was quantitative, using survey research method. Thepopulation was irrigated wheat farmers in central district of Orzuiyeh County in Kerman province, among whom 132 wheat farmers were determined as sample based on Bartlett and colleagues sample size table. The main instrument of the research was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of academic experts as well as the staffs in Jihad-e-Agriculture management of Orzuiyeh County. The reliability of the questionnaire was also determined by conducting a pilot study and calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.58-0.86). The results of the correlation matrix of components of Protection Motivation Theory showed that the response costs, response efficacy, and self-efficacy had a significant relationship with the farmers’ water protection behavior. In the validation of the Protection Motivation Theory, the results of the fitting test showed that the DF/CMIN, NFI, IFI, CFI and RMSEA indices were in a good level. The results of path analysis also showed that the components of Protection Motivation Theory could explain more than 28% of the changes in farmers’ water protection behavior, among which self-efficacy made a significant contribution, while other components were non-significant. Finally, cluster analysis was used to better understand farmers' water behavior and based on the results three groups of farmers were identified including, positive protective, negative consumerism, and positive consumerism.