م. چیذری

The present research aimed to investigate the mediating role of the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem in linking the pluriactive rice farmerschr('39') motives to pluriactivity consequences in the Haraz Watershed in a descriptive-correlational study conducted through a survey technique. A sample of 182 pluriactive rice farmers in the Haraz Watershed participated in the study. The results of descriptive statistics showed that in both pull and push motive variables, the means were higher than the medium level. However, concerning the variables of rural entrepreneurship ecosystem and pluriactivity consequences, the means were lower than the medium level. In path analysis, the direct effects of the independent variables showed that the pull motive and rural entrepreneurial ecosystem had a significant and positive effect on the consequences of pluriactivity, while these consequences were not affected by the push variable significantly. The indirect effects of the independent variables revealed that the push motive had a significant and positive effect on the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the pull motive had no significant impact on the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem. The study has practical implications for institutions related to rural development, in general, and institutions related to rural business development, in particular. The latter institutions, especially educational and extensional centers in public and private sectors that are involved in rural regions, could encourage rice farmers to establish and develop their business based on their motives.

The purpose of this study was to identify Professional Competencies (PCs), including General and Specific Competencies (GSCs), of Agricultural Teachers (ATs) working with Students with Special Needs (SSNs), known as exceptional students (1,013 people), in Vocational High School Education System (VHSES) in Iran, within two phases. Accordingly, the main objective of the first phase was to identify General Competencies (GCs) of these teachers. Therefore, in the first phase, the components of teachers’ GCs were taken from theoretical literature and research documents via content analysis and the findings revealed that the GCs encompassed 6 components of Instruction Design (ID), Professional Development (PD), Professional Ethics (PEs), cooperation, Perceived Student Diversity (PSD), and technology. The objective of the second phase of this study was also to find Specific Competencies (SCs) of ATs working with SSNs. This phase of the study was conducted using the classical 3-step Delphi technique. In this respect, the specialized Delphi team consisted of 22 ATs working at Iran’s Exceptional Schools (ESs), selected through purposive sampling method. Finally, the findings reduced to the identification of 24 SCs for ATs working with SSNs, which were then grouped into two categories of Agricultural Competencies (ACs) and Exceptional Competencies (ECs).

The lack of accountability of government organizations to address the needs of stakeholders and the private sector and the provision of low-quality services to clients has increased dissatisfaction with government services. Therefore, providing quality services is essential to increase satisfaction with government organizations. Extension services are one of the main components of sustainable agriculture development in Iran and are provided to farmers through the Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Organization (AREEO). Considering the low level of farmerschr('39') satisfaction with extension services, development of a system for assessing farmerschr('39') satisfaction as a strategic project has been emphasized. This study was conducted to develop the components of farmerschr('39') satisfaction with extension services and determine the factors affecting their satisfaction, in 2019. In this study, the classic Delphi method was used during three rounds. The expert panel consisted of nine university faculty members, 14 faculty members of AREEO, and 19 headquarters extension experts (n= 42). Delphi results led to the selection of 37 components to assess the satisfaction of farmers with the extension services. These components were classified using the constant comparative method in four main factors. These factors include technical and professional features of the extension experts, service quality, perceived effectiveness, and policy, management, and planning.

Human well-being is one of the main goals of sustainable rural development. Indeed, human well-being demonstrates rural societies’ quality of life. This concept consists of objective and subjective well-being dimensions. Although it is assumed that objective well-being is rationally related to subjective well-being, this relationship has not been fully confirmed in past studies. Three main reasons including the geographical level of assessment, the type of data used, and different epistemological perspectives have separated objective well-being assessment from the subjective one. We used the same geographical level, type of data used, as well as epistemological perspective in order to evaluate the relationship between objective well-being and subjective well-being among rice farmers. Using a questionnaire, a survey was carried out among 384 rice farmers (Response rate= 92.3%) in the main rice cultivation areas in Iran. The study sample was chosen by a two-stages cluster random sampling technique. Face to face personal interview was also used as the form of data collection. The results of structural equation modeling illustrated that farmers’ perception of economic, social, and environmental well-being as objective well-being domains significantly explained their subjective well-being constructs including happiness as well as life satisfaction. In fact, life satisfaction and happiness would be changed once farmers mentally perceive objective well-being domains. Therefore, objective well-being indicators can affect subjective well-being constructs, including life satisfaction and happiness, if they are assessed based on farmers’ self-evaluation.

The present study aimed to identify strategies for the application of pro-environmental technologies for greenhouse vegetable production in Tehran Province, Iran. It is an applied research type whose main instrument is a questionnaire. The population of the study consisted of 109 experts in Tehran Province, of which 86 experts were selected by stratified random sampling method (based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table). The questionnaire was revised with the help of the experts who had significant experience in crop protection to ensure the validity of the instrument. A pilot study was conducted on 22 experts in Alborz Province to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Cronbach’s Alpha scores were acceptable for different sections of the questionnaire (0.71-0.82), so, the instrument was reliable. The research methodology is descriptive, and the SWOT analysis was used. First, the internal environment was analyzed to prepare a list of strengths and weaknesses in applying pro-environmental technologies, and then, a list of opportunities and threats were identified by analyzing the external environment. Some derived strategies include the development of appropriate mechanisms to control the sale and use of pesticides by removing barriers to registration, mass production, storage, handling, transport and consumption of biological agents, and reinforcement of the knowledge of greenhouse owners regarding biological control.