Investigating the Impact of Economic Structure of Agricultural Products on the Urban-Rural Relationship (Case Study: Central District of Dezful County)

1. The bond between urban and rural areas, the result of their mutual needs in a spatial system, is the basis of urban-rural continuity. One of such bonds is the transfer of agricultural goods from villages to urban market. The structure of production and the flow of agricultural products to urban market could be affected by factors such as access to natural resources, production capital and appropriate infrastructures, which altogether determine villagers benefit from the added value of this flow. Thus, the present research was performed with the goal of analyzing the structure of production and marketing of agricultural products in Dezful region. It aimed to understand whether or not this flow has established a bond and complementary relation between rural settlements and urban areas on a local and national level.
2. THEORETICAL In many of development theories, urban and rural areas are considered as two isolated entities. However, the balanced land development is fulfilled by urban-rural relationship. Accordingly, Douglas proposes regional network theory with emphasis on urban-rural relationships and refers to the necessity of a balanced spatial strategy and its substitution with a viewpoint isolating cities from villages. The investigation of the flow of agricultural products to urban market is also based on this viewpoint and with emphasis on urban-rural relationship.
3. The present research uses a descriptive method to analyze data derived from documentation and field study. The findings of the field study were obtained via interviews with relevant experts and individuals in crop production. These findings were also gained by a questionnaire about the attitudes of the subjects toward the research subject and variables, which was randomly distributed among the participants. The analysis of data was performed using SPSS software. Topsis model was used to prioritize the sample villages according to village – town capital flow. In order to increase the precision of investigating the flow in the mentioned region (Dezful central area), more than 25% of the total villages in this section consisting of 10 villages were determined as macro sample, and 363 households in the sample villages were chosen as micro sample by using Cochran formula and random sampling method.
The structure of production and flow of agricultural products in the region was investigated in the form of classified flows proposed by Douglas in his theory of regional networks including measures such as population flow, capital flow, product flow (transportation, marketing and their cost) and information flow.
4. The study of the structure of production and flow of crops in Dezfulshowed thata combination of different flows including the flow of people, capital, goods and information is producedat the heart of this structure and its flow. In order to supply the work force for agriculture, some have migrated from the city to the rural areas. However, the chi square (sig level) showed that there is a significant difference between the distance from city and local labor supply. The increase of distance leads to the overcoming of labor supply in rural areas. Capital flow is in two major forms: 1. receiving rent of farmlands by urban owners of the lands, 2. borrowing from urban investors to finance agricultural rural businesses. This causes the transfer of agricultural capital to cities. The correlation between the volume of agricultural production and the amount money borrowed from urban investors shows that the increase of production leads to their increase to provide capital. Water supply for agricultural lands and units causes the transfer of a part of the rural capital to city. The correlation coefficient (0.763) between these two majors and the volume of production shows the increase of capital transfer and the rise of production rate. Transportation companies focusing on market crops in the city of Dezful, which is monopolized by urban businessmen (market brokers), has caused the flow of another part of rural capital to the city. A significant level of 0.001 calculated from the Pearson test shows the existence of a significant relationship with an aaverage correlation coefficient between the volume of production and the commission received by the urban brokers. Unfortunately, information flow to get aware of market condition is only the result of interaction between rural farmers, on the one hand, and urban brokers (or farmers), on the other. Topsis model showed that regarding urban-rural relationship, Jateh was ranked the highest, and Ghale Tough was placed on the lowest level from among the sample villages and according to the measures of rural-urban capital transfer. This shows that the transfer of a major part of rural capital to the city happened from the first village in the above ranking.
5. The findings showed that the factors influencing the structure of agricultural product flow shape the bond between the settlements of the rural areas like Dezful and other cities on regional and national levels by using more urban areas in this process. Accordingly, commercializing crop production and linking them with foreign markets is an appropriate way to expand agricultural economy with the simultaneous goal of rural and urban development. On the one hand, creating a network of economic and information relationships among individual farmers, and on the other hand, the establishment of such relationships between individual famers and the major producers who are directly in touch with exportation market (to be in touch with global markets) could be a proper means in this regard. These relationships could unfold in the shape of establishing sale and marketing cooperatives; they could strengthen the positive bonds between rural and urban areas and finally they could develop regional development with the goal of modifying state policies, facilitating exportation networks and establishing required infrastructures.