ه. فرهادیان

Climate change is one of the most important challenges that influence different parts of human life. An important consequence of climate change is its effects on water resources and the occurrence of drought. Since the agricultural sector is influenced by drought, the present research aimed to evaluate the livelihood resilience of farmers to drought in Kermanshah Township, Iran. The research used both primary and secondary data. First, the drought status of Kermanshah Township was evaluated with Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Percent of Normal Index (PNI) and the Drought Indices Calculator (DIC) software package for a 51-year statistical period. Based on the results, the years 1973, 1978, 1979, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2008, 2013, and 2015 were dry. It was observed that, as we approached 2020, the number of years with a negative SPI increased. Then, the dimensions of livelihood capital were studied with the focus group method in the form of three focus groups from the perspective of 19 key experts. Data in this phase were analyzed by the content analysis method. The output of this phase was the development of a questionnaire for the final phase. Finally, to check the livelihood capitals influencing the enhancement of farmers’ resilience to drought in the region, 380 farmers were selected by the multistage sampling method. The potential of the independent variables in accounting for the variance in the farmers’ livelihood resilience was checked by stepwise multivariate linear regression. Based on the results, the variables of financial capital, social capital, and human capital with beta values of, respectively, 0.378, 0.324, and 0.152 had the greatest role in capturing the variance in farmers’ resilience to drought in Kermanshah Township.

The rich diversity of Persian carpets is a symbol of different cultures and traditions in this country. To ensure sustainability of the Handmade Carpet Industry Knowledge and Innovation System (HCIKIS), attention should be paid to the transformative approach that pursues holistic transformation in the production and consumption systems. The present study aimed to identify Formal Transformation Institutions (FTIs), classify them into main categories, and analyze them based on the production step, approval date, institution type, and geographical area of approval. Based on the results, there were 316 Formal Institutions (FIs) in the Handmade Carpet Industry (HCI). By open coding, 372 concepts were extracted from 509 concepts derived from different FTIs. Based on the axial coding, the FIs were divided into six initial categories of “carpet authority”, “carpet sales and maintenance inside Iran”, “handmade carpet exports and imports”, “carpet production infrastructure”, “handmade carpet production”, and “sanitary-therapeutic category”. At the next step, the matrix of the main categories based on different production steps was drawn. Among the main categories, the highest frequency was related to the category of “carpet production infrastructure” and the subcategory of “financial supply of carpet”. Although there are many FIs that support production, carpet weavers, as the main people involved in production, have received minimum supports during their working years due to unawareness of supports and loan conditions.

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies are introduced to increase agricultural productivity and improve farmers’ adaptation to climate change. Several factors influence the extent to which farmers in a particular location adopt CSA technologies. Due to the importance of financial issues, this study aimed to analyze farmers’ agreement to apply and pay for these technologies in Iran. Accordingly, the study population was farmers at Aq Qala County in the north of Iran (N= 5,447). The sample size was estimated using the Bartlett Table (n= 119), and participants were selected through a simple random sampling method. The list of appropriate CSA technologies was prepared using a relevant article and adjusted to the local condition by the agricultural experts’ comments in the research area. Results indicated that farmers’ agreement is mainly higher than their willingness to pay for CSA technology. Specifically, they prefer to pay for technologies with low cost and short-term benefits (e.g., minimum tillage, cover crops method, concentrate feeding for livestock, and crop insurance). Results of this study have practical implications for agricultural agencies in climate change adaptation planning at local level in that farmers should be trained to use low cost practices when they apply CSA practices. Moreover, allocating subsidies to some CSA technologies could be another suggestion to improve climate change management in Iran.

Farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk is critically important if they plan to implement appropriate adaptation measures in their farming. This research was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and assess the factors influencing it. To evaluate the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions, this study also explored the pattern and trend of climate variability in the study area, using historical meteorological data analysis. Research sample included 217 farmers of Kermanshah Township, who were selected using multistage sampling technique. The accuracy of the farmers’ perceived patterns of local climatic changes was appraised based on graphical analyses of meteorological records during 1970 to 2018. Then, the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions were categorized. Findings showed that the perceptions of 58.06%. of farmers were consistent with the meteorological data, and there was a need to improve the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate variability. Sharing specific local weather information with the community would be one possible way of solving this issue. Also, this study investigated the factors influencing farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk. The results showed that knowledge, personal emotions, social norms, and personal experience collectively accounted for 49.3% of the farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk variance.

Among the key strategies in higher education is to prioritize the development of the entrepreneurial university. In this regard, the University of Applied Sciences and Technology (UAST) is one of the main institutions involved in vocational higher education, especially in the agricultural sector, which aims to help graduates acquire the knowledge and skills they will require. To this end, the university needs to plan for and develop entrepreneurial educations in its training system. Accordingly, the present study aimed to strategically analyze entrepreneur UAST in the agricultural sector. The statistical sample included 19 individuals, who were presidents, deputies, and managers of a university or managers of agricultural applied science and technology centers. After interviews and reaching theoretical saturation, the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the agricultural applied sciences and technology centers were specified. The results of the SWOT matrix show that the aggressive strategy (SO) is the most appropriate strategy for the agricultural centers of UAST. The most important strategies within this approach included ‘organizing and developing agricultural applied sciences and technology programs in a balanced manner’; ‘designing and implementing a province-wide educational need assessment model for the agricultural sector’; ‘developing agricultural modular curricula and getting involved in new labor market potentials with the aid of the executive agencies’; ‘enhancing the quality of agricultural training components’; ‘developing financial resources and the use of the existing potentials of the agricultural sector with no financial burden on the government’; ‘basing decisions on research’; and ‘setting policies based on the modern agricultural and natural resources’ technology’.

This study adopted a survey approach to address and determine the effects of educational system components on strengthening the teamwork behavior of students in the agricultural higher education system of Iran. The statistical population consisted of all agricultural students in five universities of Iran. A sample of 291 students was selected using random stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were analyzed by structural simulation technique using Smart PLS software. The results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between teamwork behavior of students and the components of the higher education system, which included the teacher, student, curriculum, and the learning environment. The results also showed that the curriculum component had the most impact compared to other components. Also, the presented Applied Structural Equation Model is a strong theoretical model for predicting the teamwork behavior of the students.

At the colleges of agriculture in Iran, lecture is used as a dominated teaching method. Team learning is one of the most commonly used educational methods in the present erea. The aim of this study was to compare the Team Member Teaching Design (TMTD) and the regular lecture method on the academic achievement and teamwork behavior of agricultural students. A within-subject design was followed for two courses in which students first attended a series of lectures and then participated in team teaching. Differences between lecture and team teaching methods were examined for their academic achievement and teamwork. The study samples were taken of Agricultural Extension and Education Department of the University of Tehran during the academic year of 2017-2018. The mean scores of academic achievement and the teamwork behavior of students were compared. In compared coursess, the effect of TMTD method on the academic achievement of students was shown. The results of means comparison tests indicated a significant difference between the two methods of teaching in the field of academic achievement and the strengthening of the teamwork behavior of students. The paper further discusses team method implementation and its implication for teaching and proffers the way forward for an effective use of teaching methods for better results in the classroom teaching and learning process.