نشریه علوم ترویج و آموزش کشاورزی
سال سیزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 25، بهار و تابستان 1396)

Many agricultural and natural resources higher education institutions, because of the need to farmlands, greenhouses and laboratories are located outside the cities, away from the confines of their main centers (academic affiliated educational centers). This trend, despite having some of the above benefits, has been caused dissatisfaction and consequently decrease the interest and desire of the faculty members, staff and some students for choice to work and study in such centers. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to analyze strategies towards distant place of agriculture and natural resources higher education institutions from the academic affiliated educational centers. This applied descriptive research in terms of research methodology paradigm is a qualitative inquiry, was conducted using a classic Delphi technique. The research sample whose were chosen by purposive sampling method are faculty members and Ph.D. students with agriculture and natural resources majors that somehow are involved with outlying from their main academic centers. In this way, the most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were known as perceived by respondents and at the end all four rates averages were calculated with SWOT analysis matrix. The resultant SWOT matrix analysis is located in the area of WT (defensive strategy). Accordingly, it is better stop building and establish colleges of agriculture and natural resources in the outside the main campus and is necessary measures be used to overcome the weaknesses and threats for those which are away from the main universities and academic centers. At the end, suggested strategies have been presented.

This study aimed to identify experts’ viewpoint toward web-based design and implementation of agricultural extension services in Iran. The methodological approach was a descriptive and survey study. The statistical population of the study consisted of agricultural experts and active website managers in this field, of whom 310 people were randomly selected using the stratified sampling method. The data were collected by Questionnair and its content and face validity was evaluated by experts and its reliability measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results showed that according to the respondents’ view, the prioritized expected activities from an agricultural service-extension website were providing online and accurate meteorological information along with appropriate extension messages, expressing farmers’ problems and dealing with them, providing information regarding latest news and introducing new research achievements. Prioritized structural and appearance properties of an agricultural extension services website were respectively, the easy use of website facilities, comprehensibility and understanding of messages, full subject coverage and offering comprehensive and specialized information. Compare mean results showed that the respondents who were web managers and believed to present the website content through a provincial form and emphasized the necessity of taking the advice of academic members for updating the website, assessed the importance of the structural and appearance properties of and agricultural extension service website with a higher priority. This study recommended developing the website content based on target audience needs and providing its services to all Iranian farmers and rural through a regional, free and online scope.

Development of Dehyari’s cooperatives is considered as one of the strategies of entrepreneurial activities. Directing this activities require motivated and committed Dehyars (Municipality Administrators) who play an important role in the leadership of socio-economic organizations. Therefore, entrepreneurial leadership is the most appropriate style of leadership for Dehyars. In this regard, it is necessary to identify factors affecting entrepreneurial leadership for selecting and training Dehyars of those cooperatives. Hence, the main purpose of this survey research was determining effective factors on entrepreneurial leadership. This study is a “descriptive, correlational” research that was conducted using survey technique. The statistical population of the study was the Dehyars of Dehyari’s cooperatives from all over Iran (N= 839). Totally, 133 samples were determined by the Cochran formula, randomly. Data was gathered using a questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed through a panel of experts, and its reliability estimated using Cronbach's alphas coefficient (0.71 to 0.89). Findings indicated that, there is a significant difference toward entrepreneurial leadership between Dehyars’ demographic characteristics including age, Dehyari’s experience, and context of prior work experience. The findings also revealed that the variables of emotional intelligence affect entrepreneurial leadership, and social skills have the highest effect on dependent variable. The results of this study provide criteria for selecting and training rural Dehyars.

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitude of farmers to participate in the process of preserving and restoring Urmia Lake and its related factors in Miandoab Township, West Azarbayjan, Iran. The statistical population consisted of all farmers in villages of central district of Miandoab Township (N=1376). The sample size determined using Cochran's formula (n=134) and cluster sampling method used for selecting samples. Descriptive and correlational research method used in this study. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of agricultural extension and education faculty members. Cronbach's coefficient alpha was used to confirm the reliability of the questionnaire (0.78-0.81). Data analyzed using SPSS 20. The finding revealed that there is a significant relationship between attitude to participate in the process of preserving and restoring Urmia Lake and agricultural income, agricultural job satisfaction, willingness to pay for the restoration of the Lake, the confidence in government agencies and the level of satisfaction with the services provided and the competence of government to protect and restore the Lake. Farmer's satisfaction will increased through improved services and the participation of government agencies and so it could improve attitudes of farmers to participate in conservation and restoration of Urmia Lake.

In recent era, soil erosion and degradation and its consequences like decreasing agricultural productions, is an important challenge in many semi-arid areas like Iran. In this way, various strategies like conservation agriculture have been introduced for logical land use and preserving soil for next generations. In the other hand, applying these strategies and soil conservation principles is effected by different factors. Therefore, this research aimed to identify factor affecting adoption of soil conservation practices among farmers in Garmsar County. Survey technique and questionnaire instrument were used to gather data from farmers. Questionnaire validity and reliability were confirmed by panel of experts at Shiraz University and pilot study, respectively. Cronbach alpha coefficients of variables were between 0.65 - 0.90. The results showed that the farmers rarely were implementing conservation practices such as using green manures, cultivating pulses plants, scientific and precision use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (based on soil testing and expert advices) and using combined tillage. Regression analysis showed that education level, soil conservative knowledge, received loans for agricultural practices and social relations explained 26 percent of variation of farmers’ adoption behaviors. In the end, based on the results, some practical recommendations have been presented.

Hirmand County is prone to drought and has been impacted severely during recent years. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the vulnerability of Hirmand farmers caused by drought. Statistical population for this study were 302 wheat grower households resided in rural areas of two districts of the county, more drought-prone area (Ghorghori district) versus less drought- prone area (Central district). This study is based on primary sources of data collected from 170 farm households following a structured survey designed based on Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI). Questionnaire’s validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of different scales which used in the study was measured by Kuder–Richardson coefficient which was ranged from 0.52-0.63. SPSS22 and EXEL software’s were used for data analysis. Results revealed that social, economic and environmental vulnerability of rural households resided in Ghorghori district were more in comparison to their counterparts in Central district of the county. Results suggest that Ghorghori district was more vulnerable in terms of water in environmental and social networks in terms of social vulnerability. Findings shed light on the appropriateness of this pragmatic approach to monitor vulnerability, resources and potential solutions to cope with drought situations in data-scarce regions.

Nowadays, water scarcity has become a concern in Iran, and agriculture in particular appears to be at the core of the water shortage problem. The use of modern irrigation technologies has been proposed as one of several possible solutions. This survey research aimed to analysis adoption behavior of pressurizedirrigation technology by farmers. Statistical population of this research consisted of all the farmers of Dashtestan county (N=20000), Bousher Province. Using Cochran formula, size of the sample was determined (n=243). The respondents were selected by stratified sampling technique. Content validity of the questionnaire as research tool was confirmed by a panel of experts. Calculated Coronbach alpha coefficients (0.87 - 0.97) revealed that the reliability of the questionnaire was suitable. Correlation coefficients revealed positive significant relationship between age, farming experience, numbers of family members which engaged in farming, agricultural loans, loans used for developing pressurized irrigation, farm investment, investment in water supply, distance to the nearest center of Agricultural Services, number of labor, number of farmland plots, number of neighboring farmers which used pressurized irrigation, contacts with extension agents and participation in extension courses as independent variables with the adoption of pressurized irrigation, as dependent variable. The results of path analysis showed that "knowledge" has most impact on adoption of pressurized irrigation system with total path coefficient 0.359. Overally, findings of this research indicated that adoption behavior of pressurized irrigation technology was influenced by a set of variables, including: farming variables, economic variables, technical variables, personal and psychological variables, and support service variables.

Conservation agriculture (CA) is a multi-dimensional approach to sustainable use of soil and water resources and achieving sustainable production to cope with the challenges of the agricultural sector. The purpose of this study was identification and analysis of driving factors of CA development in Iran. In the qualitative part of research, 47 driving factors in eight main categories have identified by exploring relevant journal articles, government documents, CA projects reports and 32 semi-structured interviews with farmers, researchers, and other key stakeholders. Then, confirmatory factor analysis used to confirm the identified driving factors. A sample of 264 experts working in Agricultural Organizations from 9 leading provinces in the field of CA was selected through a purposive sampling method. The survey instrument was a questionnaire that designed based on result of the qualitative part of research. The results showed that the values of average variance extracted for each factor of the model was more than 0.5 and the values of composite reliability of them was more than 0.7. Therefore, the function of measurement part of model was proper. Also, the goodness-of-fit indices indicate that the model is consistent with the data. According to results, creating the culture of CA at national and local scale, creating institutional framework, policy making and planning, monitoring and assessment, market interventions and infrastructure, extension and education, supportive and research and development factors are the most effective driving factors to CA development.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the performance effectiveness of technical engineering and consulting companies in agriculture and the factors which influence them. The population of this study consisted all active members of advisory services in Divandarreh County. Using Cochran's sampling formula, 60 people were selected as the sample. To increase the findings’ reliability, with proportionally random sampling method, 84 questionnaires were distributed, and finally 72 questionnaires were completed. To collect the data a questionnaire was used which its validity confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability verified by calculating Chronbach's alpha coefficient (α>0.7). Data were analyaed by SPSS18 software. Results showed that the studied companies had pleasant performance and been somewhat successful in providing services for farmers, while their performance varies in different parts. Also, in the case of their performance priority, the results showed that Andisheh-Sabz Arbaba and Arbaba companies had appropriate performance compared to other service companies, while Paeezan-Gostar and Laleh-Gostar companies had low performance in comparison with other companies. In addition, the results of the regression analysis revealed that the variables such as members’ job satisfaction, support from the government, the members combination with regard to majors, job security and members trust to each other had a strong impact on the prediction of each members performance, so that these variables explained 54.2 percent of the variance of the dependent variable (performance).

The economic globalization and the communication networks coupled with technological advances calls for security in food production if sustainable agriculture and rural development is to move one step forward. Accordingly, poultry farms play a crucial role in providing food safety among human population. Ravansar Township in Kermanshah Province is recognized as industrial poultry cluster. This is due to the fact that this region has diverse climate, holds major livestock and poultry feed factories, corn processing plants, and industrial poultry slaughterhouses. However, during the recent times there has been a 10 percent mortality in poultry farms. Moreover, the Fourth and Fifth Development Plan has emphasized a 7percent reduction in poultry mortality rate which in this case has not been met. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the determinants of bio-security coefficient in poultry farms in Ravansar Ttownship. Results revealed that poultry farmers had negative to neutral attitude towards bio-security measures. Moreover, the coefficient of bio-security across poultry farms was weak to medium. In addition, poultry farmers had minimum knowledge towards bio-security measures and a low adoption. It is recommended that poultry farmers participate in training courses related to bio-security measures and that poultry farms may continue their profession provided that they adopt bio-security measures.

The aim of this research was to investigate attitude of local people who live in villages near forests of Margoon district, Boyer-Ahmad County, regarding participatory forest management and its influencing factors. For this purpose, 164 rural householders were selected and studied with the aid of random sampling method. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data using questionnaire containing open and closed questions. A panel of experts confirmed the face validity of the questionnaire. Due to determining the reliability of the questionnaire, internal contingency by Cronbach’s alpha value was implemented that the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (0.54 to 0.82) were confirmed the questionnaire. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS17.5 and Amos20 software’s. Findings from Pearson correlation revealed that there was a correlation between the attitude regarding participatory forest management and age, education, household's income, forest degradation beliefs, reference group attitude, pro-ecological view, limits to growth beliefs, eco-crisis beliefs. Furthermore, the hierarchy regression results showed that among the variables postulated in the model; reference group attitude, age, eco-crisis beliefs, limits to growth beliefs and family numbers were the most important determinants to predict attitude toward participatory forest management. Overall, these variables were able to explain 52.6 percent of variability in attitude. Furthermore, the CMIN/DF, NIF, IFI, CFI, and RMSEA coefficients confirmed and verified the model's desirability. Finally, negotiating with older householders due to their experiences was recommended in terms of organizing and controlling local people's attitudes.

Many environmental problems are rooted in human behavior and can thus be solved by understanding behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal effect of ‘general environmental beliefs’ and ‘special groundwater belief’ on ‘groundwater sustainable behavior’ among agricultural groundwater users in Fars Province. This study is a ‘descriptive and causal-correlative’ research that was conducted using survey technique as a research method by using the paradigms of environmental psychology. The units of analysis was agricultural groundwater users (owners of agricultural wells; N=1224). Based on the stratified random sampling method, 296 people were selected as a sample in three high, medium and low vulnerability range of groundwater studies limits. A researcher-structured questionnaire was used for data collection, which its validity and reliability were confirmed by using a panel of university professors and relevent experts and using Cronbach's alpha (0.61≤α≤0.82), respectively. A causal analysis was performed by using Structural Equations Modeling. The results showed special groundwater belief was strong determinant of groundwater sustainable behavior that is affected by human exception paradigm and new environmental paradigm. According to results, new human interdependence paradigm has the most direct causal effect and human exception paradigm has the most indirect causal effect on groundwater sustainable behavior.

Given the importance of performance as the main indicator of the success of businesses, in the recent years, researchers have always been seriously seeking to investigate the factors affecting it. Meanwhile, entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial marketing have more attracted as compared with others factors due to the necessity of businesses tendency toward risky activities and innovative actions on the one hand and increasing diversification of customers’ expectations and demands and intensified competition in the market on the other hand. Considering the importance of issue, this descriptive survey research was undertaken to investigate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial marketing in relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance. The population of this study was all of greenhouse owners in Jiroft County in Kerman Province (N= 1022). A sample size of 246 was selected using a stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. Data was collected through the standard questionnair and was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique. The Bootstrapping method was used for testing mediating effect. The results showed that entrepreneurial orientation had a positive and significant effect on performance (p-value=0.001, β=0.780) and explained about 61 percent of its variances. In addition to this, the results indicated that sum of indirect effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance through the variable of entrepreneurial marketing was significant (p-value=0.001, β=0.463) and entrepreneurial marketing partially mediated positive effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance. Based on findings, it can be concluded that it is necessary for maximizing effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance of greenhouse businesses to strengthen entrepreneurial marketing and its components.

Eradication of poverty has always been one of the most important aims of sustainable rural development. Poverty has gender-based dimension and gender inequality is one of the most important aspects of poverty. Gender inequality is a complex concept which includes subjective and objective facets. This concept is affected and/or formed based on community member's believes and has a great impact on living standards of community members. In this regard, analysis of factors influencing gender inequality among poor farmers’ households was determined as the main purpose of the present research. The statistical population of the study consisted the poor farmers’ households in rural areas of Sarevestan County in Fars Province (N=480). Totally, 215 households were selected as a sample group using Krejcie and Morgan's sampling table and stratified random sampling method. Research findings revealed that variables like gender stereotypes, gender socialization, men's perception about ability to control the resources and, women's perception about ability to control the resources positively and significantly correlated with gender inequality. While, men's attitude towards the share of women in resources control revealed a negative and significant correlation with gender inequality.

Nowadays, examination of the status of knowledge management is very important, because of knowledge as an intangible asset has rapidly changed to a vital resource for survival and progress of organizations. Accordingly, a survey study to analyze the knowledge management system of Khuzestan’s Organization of Agriculture Jihad, based on SWOT method was conducted. The statistical population consisted of the whole agricultural specialists working at Khuzestan’s Organization of Agriculture Jihad (N=103) during the study period. Then, using simple random sampling method a sample of 80 persons was selected. The instrument was a questionnaire which its face validity was approved by a panel of experts. To examine its reliability, a pilot study was carried out and Cronbach's alpha was calculated (coefficients of 0.77 to 0.96). The findings of SWOT analysis indicated the dominance of weaknesses on strengths as well as threats on opportunities. In addition, by making the SWOT matrix, invasive, conservative, diversifying and defensive strategies were developed. The interception of the axes in the internal and external matrix (IE) suggested that the defensive strategies are of great priority than the others. At the last stage, using quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM), defensive strategies were prioritized. And finally, regarding to more paying attention to defensive strategies, appropriate operational solutions were developed.