Investigating effective factors on achieving sustainable agriculture in rice production in Guilan province (Case study: Rasht city)

IntroductionRice is one of the most important grains and food items in the world, which is grown exclusively for humans and is the main food of half of the world's population. This important product plays a fundamental role in ensuring the country's food security and also the agricultural economy of Guilan province; Because every year more than 193 thousand farmers cultivate rice in the fertile and prone lands of Guilan province. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the effective factors in achieving sustainable agricultural indicators in the production of rice in Guilan province, which can increase yield, create suitable opportunities, increase income and finally the relative well-being of Guilan rice farmers. This research was conducted in Guilan province and Rasht city in 2021-2022.Materials and methods The current study was conducted in Rasht city, Guilan province, Iran, in 2021-2022. The statistical population of this research was the rice farmers of Rasht city and the experts of agricultural jihad organization of Guilan province. Using Cochran's formula, the sample size of 383 rice farmers was calculated and 70 were selected for the statistical population of experts. Sampling of rice farmers was done in a multi-stage manner and the samples were randomly selected from each village and the sampling of experts was done by full count. The main tool for collecting the information required for this research is a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by 10 university professors and experts of the agricultural Jihad organization, and its reliability was obtained using Cronbach's alpha, 0.81. The research variables were divided into five different categories, including managerial, economic, ecological characteristics, use of technology and social participation, and their effect on achieving sustainable rice cultivation in Gilan province was investigated.Research findingsThe most important research findings in the descriptive statistics section showed that the education level of about 40% of the statistical population of this research is a diploma. 54% of the rice farmers own their paddy lands and the average area under rice cultivation of the farms in this research is 1.1 hectare. In addition, the rate of satisfaction of rice farmers with rice cultivation is 67.7%. The results obtained from the analytical statistics also showed that the studied characteristics in this research had a different effect on achieving sustainable agriculture in rice production, so that managerial and economic characteristics had high influence from the experts opinion and moderate influence from the rice farmers opinion, technological features and innovation had high influence from the experts viewpoint and low influence from the rice farmers viewpoint, ecological characteristics had moderate influence from the viewpoint of both rice farmers and experts, and the characteristics of social participation also had loe influence from the viewpoint of both rice farmers and experts. The comparison between the viewpoint of two statistical populations studied in this research (rice farmers and experts) based on the t-test also showed that there was a significant difference between them in terms of achieving sustainable agricultural indicators, so that the studied variables in this research had a high influence from the viewpoint of most experts but a moderate influence from the viewpoint of most farmers.ConclusionIncreasing knowledge and improving attitude will improve performance and create relatively stable changes in behavior and enable the target groups to quickly adapt to environmental changes. Knowledge is the driver of change and improvement in the attitude of rice farmers in relation to the indicators of the correct method and time of plowing, the minutes of plowing, the construction of modern warehouses, the correct amount of seeds to use, etc. in sustainable rice cultivation. Examining the economic characteristics of rice farmers also showed that by improving the efficiency of existing facilities and capital, increasing production efficiency, reducing costs, increasing knowledge, improving technical skills, etc., in the economic status of rice farmers desirable changes are made. As a result, if the rice farmers have a favorable economic situation, along with receiving loans and necessary government credits, they can achieve many indicators of sustainable development of rice production and take steps in the direction of balanced national development. In addition to the economic characteristics, the use of ecological power that is accompanied by scientific and correct management, while it makes the realization of many goals of sustainable rural development, achieves the goals of balanced and sustainable development at the national level, makes it possible and gives it a double speed. One of the important and effective characteristics in achieving sustainable agriculture is the use of new technologies. New technologies bring the use of new findings, and the use of new technologies requires economic power to acquire the new technology. Another important finding obtained from this research is that no rural development plan will go anywhere without paying attention to the participation of the people. Identifying and compiling a suitable model for the participation of villagers to achieve sustainable agricultural indicators, sustainable rural development, followed by balanced sustainable national development, is a necessary and undeniable matter.