Uncovering the causes of Abandoning traditional animal husbandry by nomadic pastoralists of northeastern Iran

Failure to meet needs, climate change and resulting social and economic conflicts have faced many challenges in the life of nomadic communities. So that they are forced to leave animal husbandry temporarily or permanently. In this regard, the present research has identified and analyzed the reasons for the abandonment of livestock by nomadic in the summery rangeland of northeastern Iran.

The current research purpose is applied and descriptive information was collected by survey method and using a mixed approach. The statistical population is consists of 175 Kurdish nomadic households of Kurmanj, North Khorasan, from four traditional communities in the rangelands of Ajisu area in Marve-tape city, Golestan province. According to Yamane's (1967) formula, 122 beneficiaries were selected as a sample using a stratified random method with proportional assignment within the studied customary systems. The measurement tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, the items and components of which were finalized based on 15 interviews with experts who were identified based on the snowball technique. So that the questionnaire was prepared based on 46 items in the form of 11 components. Each of the items through a five-point Likert scale including very little (with a numerical value of 1), little (with a numerical value of 2), to some extent (with a numerical value of 3), a lot (with a numerical value of 4) and A lot (with a numerical value of 5) were measured. The content and face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed through experts' opinions and based on the convergent validity criterion (AVE), which has a minimum value of 0.5. To determine the reliability of the measurement tool, two criteria, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability (CR) were calculated, for which a value greater than 0.7 is acceptable. After collecting data, statistical calculations in this research were done based on SPSS25 and Smart PLS3 software in two descriptive and inferential sections.

The results obtained from the average rank comparison showed that the five components of "livestock and rangeland management challenges", "climate changes and the resulting threats", "incompatibility of the market with the new needs of grazing", "lack of economic The presence of animal husbandry and the reduction of saving power" and "life experiences outside of animal husbandry and changes in local customs" respectively, with the highest mean values of 10.09, 9.87, 8.27, 8.14 and 7.93 are the highest. It has had a degree of importance and influence in the abandonment of livestock by nomadic in the studied area. The results obtained from the relationships between the components of the model of the reasons for the abandonment of livestock by nomadic showed that all the relationships were positive and significant at the 95% confidence level. So that the strongest relationships are assigned to "life experience outside ranching → conflict" and "reduction in family ability → life experience outside ranching" with path coefficients of 0.687 and 0.547. The weakest of them also belong to the two relations "weakness of government services → reduction of savings" and "weakness of government services → market mismatch". As the results showed, climate change and its consequences on the two factors of production reduction and poor access to financial resources (ρ=0.010, β=0.363 and t=2.585) and the weakness of government services and lack of Infrastructures (ρ=0.000, β=0.301 and t=4.364) had a positive and significant effect at the 99% confidence level.

According to the obtained results, the development of livelihood support of the government, including educational facilities and health and medical infrastructures, providing facilities and cheap bank loans for the development of businesses with the aim of reducing the dependence of users on rangeland, development of veterinary services free in the affairs of the nomads of the province, increasing government subsidies in the distribution of supplementary animal feed, flour and fuel, laying the groundwork for providing drinking water for animals and families, creating job opportunities through the holding of professional and skill training courses Businesses such as handicrafts and the production of targeted dairy products, the creation of livestock markets and the sale of live livestock are suggested in order to prevent nomadic communities from abandoning traditional animal husbandry.