Investigating Effective Factors on Sustainable Development of Agricultural Cooperatives (case study: Sirjan County)

in order to improve production situation and income of farmers tends to Cooperatives as a link among rural producers, government and consumers and are suitable tools to achieve the goals of sustainable development. In this study, according to the role of cooperatives in achieving sustainable agricultural development, first the sustainable development index in economic, social, institutional and environmental dimensions among a sample of members of agricultural cooperatives in Sirjan using different items in Likert spectra were evaluated. Then, the factors affecting different dimensions of stability were investigated using Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equations (SURE).Results shows different dimensions of economic, social, environmental and institutional sustainability are 0.50, 0.55, 0.55 and 0.47, respectively. According to the results of regression estimation, the variable of participation in educational-extension classes has a positive effect on various dimensions of the sustainable development index and interest in agricultural activities on social, institutional and environmental dimensions. In addition, the history of membership in cooperatives affects the social and institutional dimensions. Due to the importance of the role of education in improving the sustainability, it is recommended that agricultural cooperatives prioritize the provision of productive education tailored to the needs of farmers. Despite the severe instability in the institutional and economic dimensions, the government should try to implement supportive policies to strengthen and develop cooperatives so that they can invest in improving the state of infrastructure. Also, by creating sustainable employment and income, strengthen their interest in farming and staying in this high-risk job and bring more sustainability