جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « ranchers » در نشریات گروه « آبخیزداری، بیابان، محیط زیست، مرتع »

Rangelands are one of the most important renewable resources that play a vital role in the preservation and sustainability of the environment, water and soil resources, and livelihood security for rural communities. However, overgrazing has led to severe soil erosion on many rangelands in recent years. An important strategy for rangeland conservation, which has received less attention in previous research, is to change rancher behavior in a pro-environmental direction. Therefore, this study focused on determining the factors that influence ranchers' use of rangeland conservation behaviors (RCB) in western Iran. Therefore, this study was conducted with the general aim of the role of social capital on rangeland conservation behavior among ranchers. The study statistical population consisted of all ranchers in the Saral district of Kurdistan province (Western Iran) who were selected through a multistage stratified sampling procedure with appropriate allocation. The main research tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results of this study showed that the studied ranchers do not perform rangeland conservation behaviors well and in addition, the results of regression analysis showed that the dimensions of social capital (social norm, social awareness, collective action, social cohesion, social trust) are able Explains 65.2% of rangeland conservation behavior. In this regard, policymakers in this field are suggested to prevent its excessive destruction by forming cooperatives and holding training courses in the field of rangeland protection.

Migration is the movement of people from one ecological region to another, it may be on temporary or permanent basis. Migration is a selective mechanism that impacts individuals and households economically, socially, educationally, and demographically, and it is an important phenomenon that many economists, particularly in developing countries, have addressed. Due to the varying situations in Ardabil province's rural areas, five counties (each with one watershed containing several villages) were chosen for this study, and the economic factors affecting rural-urban migration to ranchers were investigated.

The current research was carried out in the Ardabil province, in 2020. The five counties of Ardabil, Nir, Namin, Sarein, and Kosar were initially evaluated, then, a watershed was selected in each county where watershed management and rangeland restoratoin projects were carried out. In the next step, four villages from Ardabil's Kaftaragh watershed, three villages from Namin's Saqezchichae watershed, nine villages from Sarein's Darvishchae watershed, nine villages from Kosar's Likvanchae watershed, and eight villages from Nir's Siahpoosh watershed were chosen as statistical communities. In total, the statistical community includes ranchers from five counties and 33 villages in Ardabil province. The research method was descriptive-analytical and the data collection techniques were questionnaire, observation, face-to-face interview and village population statistics. The questionnaire included some descriptive features of the villages, village residents and also 11 economic factors. The sample size based on Cochran's formula was estimated to be 372 people. Following that, the proportion of each watershed in the total sample size was calculated, and information was gathered through in-depth interviews and the completion of a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to extract the features of the statistical population. A single-sample t-test was used to assess the overall status of economic factors affecting ranchers’ migration. In addition, the Friedman test was utilized to rank the most important factors affecting migration and the Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to look for significant differences between villages in terms of economic factors that influence migration.

The results showed that 0.3% of the respondents with the lowest frequency had agricultural job and 85.5% with the highest frequency had the main job of livestock and agriculture. According to the findings, the average income in the agricultural sector is 167.6 million Iranian Rial, while the average income in the livestock sector is 309.1 million Iranian Rial. The income from livestock is nearly double that from agriculture, indicating that the research ranchers’ economy in the study area is more dependent on livestock. Moreover, the findings revealed that the most important economic factors affecting rural-urban migration were the lack of interest of the youth in continuing and expanding agricultural and livestock activities (mean rank = 9.78), more economic opportunities and access to higher-paying jobs in urban (mean rank = 9.56) and inequality of urban and rural facilities and welfare and livelihood services (mean rank = 8.88).

Considering that a large part of the rural communities of Ardabil province are ranchers, the economy of the pastoralists in the region is more dependent on livestock. In general, according to the results of the current research, the lack of interest of the youth to continue farming and ranching, more economic opportunities and higher income in the city, and the inequality of city and village facilities were the most important economic factors affecting the migration of pastoralists to cities.

Rangelands cover over 53 % of the country’s area. These areas require proper management practices for preservation, rehabilitation, development and optimal utilization. Nowadays, participation of people, particularly ranchers, is an essential step towards sustainable development in watershed management. The purpose of this study was to investigate social and economic factors affecting the willingness of ranchers to participate in rangeland rehabilitation and restoration projects in Dehgolan city. The number of samples was calculated to be 68 using Cochran equation and Krejcie and Morgan table. Results showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between social and economic factors with the willingness of ranchers to participate in the rangeland rehabilitation and restoration projects. Also, the results of stepwise regression showed that among the variables affecting the willingness of ranchers to participate, four variables including social factors, economic factors, education and the number of livestock could explain 80% of the variance.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the factors affecting the use of information resources and communication channels by the Dehgoln Township ranchers to participate in rangelands rehabilitation and restoration projects. The study consisted of all ranchers (N=80) in the Dehgolan county, located in Kurdistan Province, from among whom 68 ranchers were selected through random sampling technique. A questionnaire was designed and employed to gather the required data. A panel of selected experts verified the questionnaire's content validity. The scale of use of information resources and communication channels was proved to be reliable as Cronbach Alpha coefficient was estimated as equal to 0.7. The results of descriptive statistics revealed that a majority of the ranchers have been illiterated. Also, it was revealed that a majority of the ranchers have utilized information resources and communication channels at a low level. The results of regression analysis finally revealed that the three variables of income, educational level and family size, explained about 54% variances of the dependent variable.