Factors Affecting Agricultural Mechanization: A Case Study on Sunflower Seed Farms in Iran.

The primary purpose of this research study was to determine the major factors affecting the implementation of national agricultural mechanization programs in Iran. The secondary purpose of this study was to assess the agricultural mechanization level practiced by farmers. This project consisted of two phases. In the first phase of the study, a Delphi technique was used to gather experts'' points of view on variables affecting agricultural mechanization implementation programs in Iran. The second phase of the study was designed to assess the agricultural mechanization level practiced by farmers growing sunflower seeds. The Delphi technique investigation showed that the main constraints on farm mechanization were “small farm size” and “fragmentation of holdings”. The findings of the second phase of this research indicated that the mean agricultural mechanization level practiced on the sunflower producing farms was about 0.5 kW per ha of cultivated land. However the amount of energy input varied between 0.0149 to 3.4973 kW. Multivariate linear regression of the study indicated that 46.9% (R2= 0.469) of the variance in the level of agricultural mechanization practiced could be explained by variables such as income, total farming land, and land holdings under sunflower seed cultivation