Investigating the Factors Affecting Inequalities in the Income Levels of Villagers Within the Framework of the Three-branch Model: A Case Study of Villages of Islamshahr City

The purpose of this study was to assess the relative importance of factors affecting the differentiation of income levels and the success of investment in agricultural businesses in the villages of Islamshahr. Differences in the rates of effectiveness and profitability of agricultural activities exacerbate economic dispersal, difference in the levels of farmers' livelihood, and the imbalance among the economic costs of agricultural jobs in a rural area. Regarding the diversity of cropland sizes in the region, the stratified sampling method was used to appropriately select a sample size of 195 people who took part in interviews and completed questionnaires. In this study, based on a descriptive and inferential approach, the three-branch model framework and the multiple discriminant analysis were used to evaluate the relative importance of the factors that affect the inequality of income levels of rural farmers. The results showed that most of the farmers were land owners and held secondary high school degrees. Also their average farming experience was about 20 years, and their main occupation was agriculture. Most agricultural lands in the region were found still using traditional irrigation methods, and more than 28% of the farmers did not consider the accessibility of water desirable. The results also showed that structural and environmental factors were the most important factors affecting the income gap among the farmers in the region. From the structural point of view, the type of land ownership and land size emerged as the most important factors to determine the probability of being in the lowest-income group.