Present study used Translog cost function for determining break point of paddy farms. Requested data set include inputs’ prices and quantities, and production amounts had been acquired from 500 rice farmers of Guilan province at 2009. Model used in this study is seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR). The results showed that labor and pesticides had the highest and lowest share of production costs, respectively. Accordingly, increasing labor wages puts the greatest effect on rice prices. Estimated returns to scale measure (ES) showed that there are increasing returns to scale in investigated paddy farms. Accordingly, splitting paddy farm will increase the cost of rice production and by increasing price of rice competitiveness of farmers reduced in compare with foreign competitors. Present study showed that the break point of paddy farms was one hectare so farms less than one hectare will increase average production costs, significantly. A policy recommendation is that paddy farms less than one hectare should be integrated.

The current research was done to analyzethe necessity and importance of using drones in rice farming. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and through content analysis in four stages, including material collection, descriptive analysis, category selection and evaluation. Using the non-probability sampling method and a combination of judgmental and referral methods, a sample of 15 experts in the field of agricultural drones was identified, and the necessary information was collected after about 12 hours of interviews. The semi-structured interview analysis has shown that a total of 43 concepts in three categories including "unique technical features", "monitoring and optimizing the production process (improvement of farm management)" and "economic, social and environmental benefits (welfare and well-being)" have been identified as the necessity and importance of using a drone in paddy farming. Based on this, the most necessary and important reasons for the use of drones in paddy farming include reducing the difficulty of farmers' work, reducing the amount of consumption of poisons and chemical fertilizers (through proper and accurate spraying) and the pollution caused by them, reducing the pressure on agricultural water resources through accurate use, time-saving, cost saving, flexibility (perform hybrid agricultural missions) and high mobility (speed), and identification of agricultural crop diseases. Drone technology is one of the emerging technologies and the latest generation of technologies related to precision agriculture. Due to the unique features of agricultural drones, their use in rice farming will monitor and optimize the production process, which will ultimately lead to economic, social and environmental benefits.

The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate and compare technical efficiency of two groups of paddy farms, under the national plan of increasing rice production and conventional farms in Pirbazar region of Rasht city, Iran, during 2013-2014. The studied inputs in this research included seeds, labor force, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and acreage and output was the produced rice of each farm. In this regard, data envelopment analysis (DEA) and random sampling method were used. The results revealed that the average levels of technical efficiency for farms under the mentioned national plan for two models of assuming constant returns to scale (CCR) and variable return to scale (BCC) were 99.2% and 99.6%, respectively, while the average levels of technical efficiency for conventional farms at the region considering CCR and BCC were 97.1% and 97.6%, respectively. The results also showed that the most important reason for higher performance and lower production costs in the farms under the mentioned national plan is the different use of inputs. The findings of this research can have positive effects on government’s planning in agricultural sector especially for strategic product of rice, as well as provides proper background for similar and complimentary researches on rice.

This paper aims to analyze sustainability of paddy farms in Rasht Township in the Northern of Iran. For this purpose، Asset sustainability approach was used. Statistical population of this study consisted of all paddy farmers in Rasht township (N=84772) A sample size of 401 farmers was selected and interviewed. Questionnaire included 42 indicators and 13 components for five sustainable livelihood capitals (physical، human، social، financial and natural). The results showed that none of six counties in Rasht township was sustainable level in terms of asset sustainability، but human capital was in better condition in comparison with other capitals. Sangar County had high levels of natural and physical capitals، and level of financial and human capitals were high in Central (Markazi) county and social capital in Khomam county was higher in comparison with other counties.

small lands are very common in rice farms, which, as economists believe, leads to the lack of optimal use of production resources and consequently increases production costs of rice and its price. Therefore, empirical investigation of economies of size in rice farms is very important for reducing production costs. To achieve purpose of the present study, data on rice production and its costs were collected from 180 farmers in four cities of Guilan province for the 2019-2020 crop year. Using Duality's theory, the cost function and demand functions estimated in three flexible functional forms namely Translog, Normalized Quadratic, and Generalized Leontief. Based on the estimated parameters of the best model, the elasticity of the size was estimated. As well, average cost function of rice production was estimated and based on it, the elasticity of the average cost with respect to the production was calculated.The results show that Translog functional form is the most suitable form for the expression of rice production technology in Guilan province. Results show that structural parameter of “Return to Size” for paddy farms is equal to 1.33 in average and is greater than one for all the observations. As well, elasticity of average cost relative to production is negative for all the farmers. Therefore, estimated models prove the advantage of economies of size and negative slope of average cost function in all rice farms . So, there is no any farm with efficient size in the studied sample and it is possible to reduce the production costs and the cost price of rice by increasing the size of production for all the farms. based on the findings of this research, land integration policies and increasing the size of rice paddies are suggested as an effective strategy to reduce production costs of rice production.

Cultivation of the strategic crop of rice highly depends to the existence of sufficient and guaranteed irrigation water، and water shortage stresses have irreparable effects on yield and quality of productions. Decrease of the Sefidrud river inflow in Guilan province which is the main source of supplying irrigation water for 171 thousand hectares under rice cropping area of this province، has been challenged sufficient and guaranteed irrigation water supply in many regions of mentioned province. Hence، in present study estimating the value that paddy farmers place on sufficient and guaranteed irrigation water supply has been considered. Economic valuation of sufficient and guaranteed irrigation water supply improves water resource management policies in demand side. Requested data set were obtained on the base of a survey and are collected from 224 paddy farms in rural regions that faced with irrigation water shortages. Then، using open-ended valuation approach and estimation of Tobit model via ML and two stages Heckman approach، eliciting paddy farmers'' willingness to pay for sufficient and guaranteed irrigation water supply has been accomplished. Results revealed that farmers in investigated regions willing to pay 26. 49 percent more than present costs of providing irrigation water in order to have sufficient and guaranteed irrigation water.

Ratoon Rice (RR) has been proposed to be an effective alternative rice system to increase productivity growth and reduce the environmental impact, but data on the economic performance of RR for farmers are limited. A survey of paddy farms was conducted to assess the impact of the adoption of RR in Hubei, China. Endogenous switching regression framework was used to account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. We analyzed the effect of yield, income, and technical efficiency of RR adoption. Results show that adoption of RR has great impact on yield, income, and technical efficiency. Increase in rice yield (by 5.12%) and rice income (3.74%) was found for RR farmers; increases of yield, income and technical efficiency was also significant if farmers cultivating single rice shifted to RR. Technical efficiency showed a large difference when RR was adopted by farmers cultivating single rice. Small farms and large farms benefit from the adoption of RR. Large farms benefit more yield and income than small farmer, while small farms are more efficient than large farms. Our findings provide meaningful and timely implications for future national programs and policies to promote the implementation of RR in China that aim to promote more sustainable practices and lower environmental impact in agriculture.

In this study, the energy indices of conventional rice production systems in Babolsar and Lahijan were investigated during 7010. Data were collected from 140 rice paddy farms in two provinces by carrying out a face-to-face questionnaire. The farms were selected based on random sampling method. Results demonstrated that the total input and output energy in Lahijan rice production systems were 4375433 and 177313311 MJ, respectively and, for input and output energy in Babolsar, were 40347377 and 17211732 MJ, respectively. Additionally, 333 of energy consumption in Guilan Province was assigned to water, 743 to electricity and 133 was allocated to N fertilizer. The character of energy consumption in Mazandaran Province was slightly different, since 413 was allocated to water, and 133 and 143 to N fertilizer and electricity, respectively. Ultimately, the results showed that the energy efficiency of rice production systems in Guilan was 7314, energy productivity was 031 and the proportion of water energy was 333. Furthermore, the values for the aforementioned indices in Mazandaran Province were 1315, 0311, and 413, respectively. It’s noticeable that the vast majority of input energy was due to using water logging irrigation systems, obtaining it from groundwater resources through use of electric power which, consequently, reduced energy efficiency and productivity in the rice production systems studied. Regarding this, the employment of new technologies for the proper management of water resources recommended.

The aim of this study is to investigate heavy metal concentrations in the Paddy farms of Ahwaz and Bavi counties and determine anthropogenic or natural sources of heavy metals, using statistical methods. 14 farms were chosen in Ahwaz and Bavi counties.After preparing samples, ICP-MS and ICP-OES devices were used to determine the concentration of heavy metals in soil and rice samples, respectively. Average concentration of Ag, As, Cd and Sb is higher than that of standard crust. Based on average environmental risk assessment indices, the highest contamination was related to Ag, As, Cd and Sb, which indicates the anthropogenic input to agricultural soil such as using pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the study area. Cr, Fe, Pb, Ni, and V have natural source; Sb and Cd anthropogenic source; As and Mo both anthropogenic and natural sources; and Ag anthropogenic source. Health risk due to As and Pb is probable through rice consumption. The highest mean concentration of metals in the rice samples was measured for Pb and the lowest for V. Pb concentration in the rice samples was higher than, and As concentration is close to the WHO standard. Non-carcinogenic risk for adults and children due to As and Pb is medium.

Sustainable agriculture depends on the use of eco-friendly technologies by farmers.This research was conducted to identify and evaluate farmers' intent to use pheromone traps for controlling rice pests in paddy farms of Simorgh County, Mazandaran Province. Methodologically, this research was carried out using a questionnaire-based survey. The statistical population of this research included 1,500 farmers in 29 villages of Simorgh County, in which 204 farmers were selected using Cochran formula. Samples were selected using proportionate stratified random sampling. The formal and content validity of the questionnaire was based on experts' opinion and its reliability was calculated based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated between.70 and.80 for the scales of research variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 software. The results showed that 33.8% and 16.7% of the respondents intended to use pheromone traps relatively strongly and strongly, respectively. The regression path analysis method was used to identify the direct and indirect effects of independent variables on the final dependent variable of intention to use the pheromone traps. The results of the path analysis showed that subjective norms had the most direct effect on the dependent variable (intention to use) (r=0.947). In terms of total direct and indirect effects, the perceived barrier to use with a total impact of 1.373 was in the first place. According to beta coefficients, the variables of attitude, behavioral control, and subjective norms had total effects of 0.391, 0.690, and 1.076, respectively.