An analysis on the sustainability of garden products and its role in the sustainable livelihood of rural households case study: villages in the central part of Bandargaz city

Sustainability in horticulture products depends on economic, social and environmental factors. Knowing these factors' sustainability levels can be effective in formulating sustainable horticulture development strategies and their effect on the sustainable livelihood of the user family. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the sustainability of horticulture products and their role in the livelihood of the beneficiary households in the villages of the central part of Bandar Gaz city. The required information was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity of which was obtained based on the opinion of relevant experts and the reliability of which was obtained by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89. The statistical population of this research includes garden operators in three villages of Eastern Gaz, Western Gaz and Val Afra, which was calculated using Cochran's formula as a sample size of 250. A random sampling method was used to select research samples. To measure the sustainability of garden products, 45 indicators were used, separated by economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and 53 indicators were used, separated by economic, social, human, and environmental dimensions, to measure the sustainable livelihood of the beneficiary household. According to the Spearman test, horticulture products' economic, social and environmental sustainability is effective in the sustainable livelihood of the user family. The Kruskal-Wallis test results indicate that the beneficiaries' sustainable livelihoods in the three studied villages have a significant difference up to the 99% confidence level. The results of the one-way independent variance analysis test on the cultivated area of three villages and horticulture income in three villages also stated a significant difference in these three factors up to the 99% level.