نشریه علوم ترویج و آموزش کشاورزی
سال نوزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 39، پاییز و زمستان 1402)

Rural development is one of the important priorities of the macro-development plan, especially in developing countries. In order to achieve it, rural businesses are considered as the most important element of the rural economy and a tool for economic and social growth. Rural businesses cause the villagers to stay in the village, create jobs, and reduce unemployment. Increasing income and productivity, revitalizing traditional jobs, etc. are the other impacts of rural businesses. In this regard, the current research was conducted with the aim of identifying and prioritizing the influential components in setting up rural businesses. The statistical population consisted of 133 experts in the field of rural business in Urmia County. Based on the table of Krejcie and Morgan, 97 cases were selected as a statistical sample. The data collection was based on a questionnaire containing the components extracted from the review of the research background in the form of a pairwise comparison matrix. To analyze the data, a network analysis method based on Dimtel approach was used. The results showed that the most effective variables for rural business were “availability of raw materials”, “appropriate financing”, “existence of suitable environmental conditions”, “governmental supportive policies”, “investment security”, and “innovation and creativity”. According to the findings form investigation of mutual and intra-network effects between the variables and indicators of stablishing a rural business, priority should be given to socio-cultural, economic, institutional, and natural indices, respectively. Therefore, it is suggested to give priority to the areas of creating self-confidence, creative thinking, and empowerment of villagers through proper training. Effective measures such as tax exemptions, granting banking facilities, etc. should be taken to increase savings and investment power of villagers in rural businesses. Physical, communication, and public infrastructures should also be provided for the villagers. Finally, the natural conditions governing the region should be taken into account in order to use the resources properly.

In recent years, along with the increasing development of information and communication technologies, many interactions in the real world have been transferred to the virtual world. The routine activities of different societies are being mechanized at an unexpected speed over time due to the global trends. So, the effects of microprocessor revolution are clearly visible everywhere, at home, work, and businesses. Determination and analysis of factors affecting the intention to e-commerce business among the knowledge-based companies of Sistan and Baluchistan province was the main purpose of this study. The sample of research included 162 members of knowledge-based companies who were independent or located in Science and Technology Park of Sistan and Baluchistan province, which were selected through stratified random sampling method. The required data was collected with questionnaire. The content and face validity were checked by a panel of professors of Department of Agricultural Extension and Education at Shiraz University. The reliability was also confirmed through a pilot study conducted with a sample of 30 individuals who were the members of knowledge-based companies in Science and Technology Park of Fars province. According to the results of the SEM, the variables of knowledge about the e-commerce laws, computer and internet literacy, attitude towards e-commerce, subjective norms, and perceived usefulness were the factors that had direct effects on the respondents` intention to e-commerce startup. Computer and internet literacy had the highest effects on the entrepreneurs` intention toward e-commerce. Finally, some applicable suggestions were presented to increase the intention of business owners to start e-business, based on research findings.

In order to increase rural employment, a fundamental need for a deep study with the aim of identifying and analyzing components affecting challenges of Damask Roses cultivation development in East Azerbaijan province is obvious. Related literature review shows that no similar study has analyzed the challenges of Damask Roses cultivation development in the province with futures studies method. For this purpose, after validating the face validity of the research tool (a researcher-made questionnaire) using experts of the cultivation of roses in East Azerbaijan province, the components obtained from the Delphi study were completed and analyzed in the form of matrices and in the Micmac specialized software environment. The results showed effective components of Damask Roses cultivation development in the province included lack of financial capital, chemical contamination (contamination of Damask Roses in some areas with residuals of toxins and chemicals), non-participation of private sector, experts insufficient presence, and non-investment in agricultural infrastructure. Furthermore,  the analysis of the intensity of the relationship between the components showed that the challenges of developing Damask Roses cultivation in the province remain unsolved due to the lack of capital and the creation of a vicious circle.  Simultaneous investing in Damask Roses processing industries, extension of replacing  healthy methods in the management of Damask Roses pests and diseases, establishing laws based on authority delegation, sovereignty, and responsibility of target setting to the policies of cultivating Damask Roses, continuous evaluation, and accountability to the bodies independent from "informal groups with influential and powerful members " in the Ministry of Jihad and Agriculture are among the most important suggestions of present research.

Today, changing human behavior by adopting green entrepreneurship is necessary for a sustainable future. Green entrepreneurship is a new sustainability term and a strategy to green a business by minimizing harmful factors on the environment and committing to economic and social sustainability. Despite the advantages and benefits of green entrepreneurship in agricultural sectors; there are many barriers to development of this type of entrepreneurship. The main goal of this research is to identify the barriers and limitations of green entrepreneurship in the greenhouse units of Golestan province with PESTEL analysis. The statistical population studied included active vegetable and summer greenhouse units in Golestan province, and the samples were studied in full with 70 greenhouse systems. This research is applied and descriptive and correlational (variance matrix analysis) in terms of purpose and data collection method, respectively.  Among various researches, in this study, the barriers and challenges of green entrepreneurship were investigated for the first time based on PESTEL analysis. The face validity of the research tool was confirmed based on the collective opinion of experts and specialists of agricultural Jihad of Golestan province and faculty members of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University. Discriminant validity was assessed using AVE and reliability was evaluated through Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability indices (higher than 0.6). For data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis based on partial least squares method with Smart PLS3 software was used. The results revealed that environmental, social, legal, technical, political, and economic factors are the most important challenges and barriers of green entrepreneurship. Guaranteed and contractual purchase of green products by the government and amendment of regulations and laws for exporting and branding green products are suggested for the development of green entrepreneurship.

The over-harvesting of rangeland plants for various purposes has led to growing concerns about the extinction of plant species. Therefore, present study highlights the need to change mental patterns regarding the type and method of harvesting rangeland plants. The present study aimed at psychological analysis of rural women's environmental behavior in harvesting rangeland plants using the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This study is a descriptive-correlational study. The statistical population of the research was rural women of Naghadeh County (17756 people), of which 384 cases were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment. The estimation of the sample size was done using the Karjesi and Morgan table. The research model was tested with 372 rural women of Naghadeh County. A structured and researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data, and its validity and reliability (α= 0.71-0.83) were verified using diverse indices. Smart-PLS3 software was employed to test the research hypotheses. The research findings showed that the effect of five variables attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, personal norm, and self-identity on intention was statistically significant. Moreover, based on the results of structural equation modeling, the intention significantly mediates the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Furthermore, the independent variables were able to explain 64% and 45% of the variance of rural women's behavioral intention and environmental behavior in harvesting rangeland plants, respectively. From a practical perspective, the current research provides invaluable insights for using the variables attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, personal norm, and self-identity in policy-making and decision-making, which can encourage rural women to adopt environmental behavior in rangelands.

Society and industry sabbatical leave is one of the ways to establish a systematic collaboration between “universities” and “society and industry”. In order to plan and implement this matter as effectively as possible, it is necessary to deeply analyze the merits and demerits of this program based on the lived experiences of the beneficiaries. Therefore, this research studied the lived experiences of agricultural faculty members with a qualitative approach. Phenomenological method was identified to a suitable method for this purpose. In order to collect data, some in-depth interviews were conducted with the agricultural faculty members. After conducting 13 interviews and achieving the theoretical saturation, data gathering was stopped. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's strategy and MAXQDA software. Trustworthiness of the data and results was achieved by credibility, authenticity, transferability, and confirmability. The findings showed that the expected outcomes of faculty members from the society and industry sabbatical leave included: (a) scientific, educational, and research promotion, (b) trust and expanding future cooperation, (c) communication, support, and networking, and (d) personal-professional promotion. However, based on the lived experiences of participants, some factors including (a) transparency and information, (b) administrative process, (c) rules and guidelines, (d) support services, and (e) aligning with the concern of the faculty member were of the most important challenges of faculty members in their sabbatical leave in society and industry. Therefore, for the effective implementation of the sabbatical leave, it is necessary to make decisions and actions to eliminate the mentioned challenges.

Social laziness leads to a decrease in the efficiency of individuals, employees, and organizations; this issue shows itself more than any other organization in organizations such as cooperatives whose structure requires cooperation and teamwork. This research was carried out with the aim of analyzing social laziness in rural cooperatives of Ilam province using descriptive-correlational methodology. From 143 managers of rural cooperatives, the sample size was estimated to be 103 using the Krejcie and Morgan table. The samples were selected using random sampling method with proportional assignment. The instrument of data collection was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by three members of the academic staff of Ilam University. Its reliability was also calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.91). Data analysis was performed using SPSS software. The findings showed that the relationships of the variables work conscience, self-control, job dissatisfaction, lack of progress motivation, and job commitment with social laziness are significant. Multiple regression analysis also showed that the four variables of lack of achievement motivation, job commitment, work conscience, and job dissatisfaction in total explained 53.1% of the changes in dependent variable social laziness. It is suggested that with the aim of valuing the activities of rural cooperatives and increasing the work motivation of people who are active in the field of rural cooperatives, their entrepreneurial opportunities be identified. Also, the issue of entering cooperatives into new fields with relative advantage in the province and increasing the job attractiveness of rural cooperatives should be put on the agenda.

Rural tourism is a part of the tourism market and a source of employment and income. Planning and foresight of sustainable development of tourism has attracted the attention of many policy-makers, sociologists, and planners around the world in order to provide the foresight of sustainable development of tourism in economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Based on the need for future research in the field of rural tourism in Heris County, the current research aims to answer the question that what are the scenarios that will affect the future development of rural tourism in Heris County? Based on this, the current research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature and method. According to the objectives of the present research, document-based (library) study and interview were used as the method and tools of data collection. The panel of respondents consists of 30 university professors as well as planning and development experts. Through the research process, 62 scenarios with high compatibility were selected and considering that each of the key factors has 3 possible scenarios, each scenario was divided into 3 categories, favorable, static, and critical. "The lack of implementation of specific policies and programs to pay attention to rural tourists as cultural ambassadors" was identified as a compatible scenario, which is supported by the assumption of "coherent and efficient planning in direction of designing suitable spaces for holding ceremonies and traditional rituals using cultural symbols (designing cultural routes) for tourists)".

Considering the importance of greenhouse crops on the one hand and the need to improve the level of technical knowledge and skills of greenhouse owners in order to increase their production performance on the other hand, this survey research was conducted with the main purpose of identifying and analyzing the training needs of greenhouse owner in Zanjan province. The statistical population of the research was made up of 147 active greenhouse owners with operation licenses in Zanjan province in 2022 of which 120 were selected through the stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The research instrument for data collection was a questionnaire, the content validity of which was established by the faculty members of University of Zanjan and the experts of Jihad Agriculture Organization of Zanjan Province. In order to check the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was also conducted, and the value of Cronbach's alpha calculated for the main scale of the questionnaire named training needs of greenhouse owners. The results of reliability analysis through Cronbach's alpha demonstrated an acceptable (i.e., 0.89) level of reliability for the research instrument. The collected data were analyzed using SPSSWin26 software. The results showed that the greenhouse owners' training needs in Zanjan Province can be loaded on six components including “factors related to technical issues before planting and after harvesting”, “technical issues related to crop planting”, “greenhouse management and harvesting and packaging”, “methods of marketing, advertising and value enhancement of the crop”, “location and technical issues related to the design of the greenhouse”, and “pests and diseases and their management”. Moreover, the results indicated that the intensity of training needs among the surveyed greenhouse owners, especially cucumber producers, was high, indicating the necessity of compiling and implementing related courses to cover the greenhouse owners' training needs.

Individuals’ environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) which strangely rooted in their values has been known as a fundamental factor for environmental sustainability. However, in the one hand, opinions about the ERB dimensions are scattered and on the other hand, researches in relation to the role of value types on the ERB is scarce in Iran. Therefore, the first purpose of the research is to develop an instrument for assessing tourists’ ERB according to its dimensions and then, developing a value-based model for fostering ERB among forest parks tourists. Simple random method was used to select participators in two sites of the park (western and eastern sites). A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. Reliability and validity of the research tool were confirmed using Composite Reliability, Cronbach alpha, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and Average Shared Variance (ASV). Results showed that the tourists’ value types don’t similarly affect ERB and each of them has its specific effect. However, the self-transcendence is the main value type for predicting ERB and self-enhancement value negatively and significantly influences ERB. Finally, the model variables explained 85.7% of variance of tourists’ ERB. In addition, our findings indicated that the empirical model is of great power to predict tourists ERB.

The main purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of personal and social norms on the use of pro-environmental behaviors. The statistical population of the research included all the farmers of Bavi County (Khuzestan province). A sample size of 390 farmers was selected for the study using a stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. The validity of the research tool was determined based on the opinion of the faculty members of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan and its reliability was determined through Cronbach's alpha. Furthermore, the Average Variance Extracted Index (AVE) was used to determine construct validity and the Composite Reliability Index (CR) was used to determine model reliability. The results of prioritizing pro-environmental behaviors among farmers showed that the two behaviors "using plow at least in order to reduce soil erosion" and "not keeping plant residues on the field and burning them" are the most and least used behaviors by farmers. In addition, the results of structural equation modeling showed that prescriptive, personal, and descriptive norms have significant effects on the willingness and behavior of farmers to use pro-environmental behaviors, which ultimately accounted for 63.1% of the variance of the dependent variables of the research (pro-environmental behavior). The findings of this research, while adding new insights to the existing knowledge in the field of research, can be useful in planning and policy-making to reduce environmental problems caused by the agricultural sector.

Informing the practitioners and implementers of extension and training programs about the effects of implemented programs is one of the most important components of designing and implementation educational programs. Based on this, the present research analyzed the effects of extension and training courses on the integrated pest management (IPM) knowledge transfer to the rice farmers of Mazandaran province using the Kirkpatrick model. This study was carried out using a quantitative and survey method. Statistical population consisted of two groups: the first group consisted of rice farmers who participated in the IPM extension and training courses during the last five years up to one year before the implementation of this study (N=250), and using the Krejcie & Morgan table, 146 rice farmers were selected and examined through random sampling method. The second group included 70 managers and experts involved in the implementation of the extension and training courses, among which 51 people participated in this study by census method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Kirkpatrick's four-level model, the validity of which was confirmed by a panel of experts from the Rice Research Institute of Iran, Deputy of Mazandaran, and the Mazandaran Agricultural Jihad Organization. Its reliability was confirmed through calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.89). Results in the first level of the Kirkpatrick’s model implied that the rice farmers had a positive feeling (reaction) towards the extension and training courses with 99% confidence. In the second level, the results showed that the knowledge and awareness of rice farmers had significantly increased compared to their corresponding awareness before attending the courses with a significant difference in the error level of 1%. According to the findings of the third (behavior) and fourth (results) levels, it can be claimed, with 99% confidence, that the IPM extension and training courses had been able to create positive pro-environmental changes in the behavior of rice farmers, and it has brought about significant achievements for them.