The Differences in Agricultural Land Exploitation by Resident and Non-resident Farmers (Case Study: Villages of Chendar District of Savojbolagh County)

The expansion of rural-urban migration and maintaining the connection of immigrants with their hometowns and the exploitation of inherited agricultural lands has caused the phenomenon of non-resident farmers; immigrants who live in cities and use their agricultural lands in villages. It seems that there is a significant difference in the way these immigrants use the agricultural land and the resident farmers in the villages. The purpose is to recognize these differences. This research was been done using the descriptive-analytical method. Two analysis units of village and (resident and migrant) farmer were used. The statistical population of this research is all resident and non-resident farmers of 16 selected villages of Chendar District of Savojbolagh County. The sample consisted of 396 people (170 residents and 226 non-resident heads of farmer households) which were determined using Cochran and were selected among villages by weight method and within selected villages by simple random sampling method. The required data were collected by using national statistics and the supplementary information required by completing three questionnaires of the village, resident and immigrant farmer household; interview and observation. The results showed that resident farmers play a greater role than migrant farmers. Despite the relatively short distance between the studied villages and the cities of the non-resident farmers, and the possibility of migrants traveling on weekends, to perform necessary agricultural activities, there is no noticeable difference between residents and migrants, but in matters of care and recalcitrance, resident farmers take more care of their agricultural lands and especially their gardens than migrants.