International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:6 Issue: 3, Sep 2016

Rural tourism is a factor in multidirectional development of rural areas and its most important consequences are population stability, unemployment problem alleviation, and immigration reduction. The present survey was set to investigate the strategies of developing rural tourism in Mishkhas Village in Ilam Province using the SWOT technique. A questionnaire was used as the data gathering instrument and the sample size was determined to be 368 based on the Krejcie and Morgan table. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to show the reliability of research instrument which came out to be 0.87. In this research, the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (threats and opportunities) of the region were ranked by the SWOT technique. It was indicated that the amount of advantages with the obtained value of 5.87 (strengths and opportunities) was higher than limitations rate of weaknesses and threats (4.531). Thus, according to the results, the strategy of developing rural tourism was applied in this region.

Production management is the best and foremost factor in exploiting the production factors more desirably and advantageously. Accordingly, the present study sought to evaluate the factors affecting the gardening management skills among citrus farmers in Sari, north of Iran. The statistical population for the study was 12,800 people. The stratified random sampling using the Cochran test was applied, and 250 subjects were selected for the study. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, the content validity of which was confirmed by the agricultural and extension experts and its reliability was estimated by Cronbach's alpha as to be 0.94. The data analysis results showed that the respondents’ gardening management skills was at high (41.6%) and average levels (54.1%). Considering the research findings, there was a significant positive correlation at the one percent level between citrus farmers’ gardening management skills and social, knowledge, attitude, educational factors, the total cultivated area and gardening experience. Also, there was a significant positive correlation at the five percent level between citrus farmers’ gardening management skills and the garden area, citrus annual income and the distance of the garden to the agriculture center. Considering the stepwise regression results, 45.7% of the variation in respondents’ gardening management skills was accounted for by three variables of knowledge, educational factor and the total area of cultivated land, serving as the best predictor of citrus farmers’ gardening management skills in Sari.

The main concern of an olive grower is primarily to achieve more income and profits. A harvesting method having higher efficiency and better fruit and oil quality, but a higher operation cost leads to a lower benefit. A study was carried out to evaluate the techno-economic performances of Trunk Shaker (TS) and Mechanical Harvest Aid (MHA) shaker for harvesting the yellow and Manzanilla olive cultivars in Guilan province, Iran. A factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design was used in four treatments at three replicates. The percentage of harvested fruit, fruit harvest rate (kg h-1), harvesting efficiency, leaf abscission, canned fruit acidity, and the percentage of bruised fruits, fruit tissue resistance were determined as the technical traits and benefit to cost ratio to evaluate the economic performance of experimental olive harvesting methods. The results showed that the TS with 60.6 had more harvesting percent of fruit than the MHA (24.1). Average harvesting time of a tree was recorded 10.7 minutes by TS that this was 8.2 minutes in MHA. The harvesting efficiency in TS method of Manzanilla variety was much more MHA method and yellow variety. The efficiency was 100.38 kg h-1 in TS that is more than in the method of MHA with 43.72 kg h-1. Fruits harvested with TS, with an average of 1.07 Newton, had a higher firmness of the fruits in compared to MHA method. TS method with 1270 dollar per day had more benefit compared to MHA method with a profit of $606.

Among agricultural products in Iran, pistachio is one of the major export products that can produce foreign currency. The present study evaluated factors affecting pistachio export earnings instability and its effect on agricultural export during the studied period. For this purpose, export earnings instability index was calculated using "average absolute difference between export earnings and its trend". The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used for estimating models over period 1973-2010. The results indicated that pistachio commodity concentration index had negative effect, but pistachio product instability and gaps of exchange rate had direct relationship with pistachio export earnings instability. Also, the results of the estimation of agricultural export function indicated that pistachio export earnings instability had negative and significant impact on export agriculture.

The objective of the present study was to financially compare chemical and agricultural management methods of rice blast disease, as a prevalent disease in paddy fields of Langerood in Guilan Province, Iran. Thirty-three rice experts and 373 paddy farmers were selected by random sampling procedures. Data were collected by a research made questionnaire and were analyzed by SPSS. Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) was utilized for analysis to recognize the most efficient disease management method. Given the costs in 2012 and the evaluation of economic variables of chemical disease management procedures in paddy fields per acre, it became evident that agricultural disease management methods can replace the chemical ones financially. Furthermore, the comparison of farmers’ demographic, economic and agricultural characteristics by Chi-squared test among agronomic method and chemical method users showed no significant relationship between paddy farmers’ gender, age and farming experience, but there was a significant relationship between cultivation area and management method at the 0.05 significant level. However, there was a significant correlation between disease management methods and the size of the area under cultivation. Furthermore, there were significant differences between experts and farmers’ professional viewpoints in their preferences of disease management methods. While experts insist on an integrated application of chemical and agricultural procedures, most farmers apply chemical disease management methods.

Given entrepreneurs’ special role in the economic growth and development, many developed and developing countries are attempting to motivate more number of people who have entrepreneurial characteristics towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training courses in Ilam Province, Iran. In this research a descriptive survey method was used. The statistical population consisted of 830 people that based on Cochran’s formula and by using proportionate stratified random sampling method 130 people were selected as the sample. The research tool was a questionnaire which its validity was confirmed by a panel of experts’ and its reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha as to be 0.83 proving its high reliability. Data were analyzed by SPSS Software Package. It was found that participants’ inclination towards self-employment and entrepreneurship was increased after attending the courses. Also, significant differences were observed in participants’ readiness to start a business, their familiarity with entrepreneurship concepts and their ability to make a business plan before and after attending the courses.

Labour productivity affects food security, but quantifying this relationship has been scarce with respect to empirical literature. The Central Madagascar dataset explores the influence of labour productivity and related variables on the food security status of cassava farmers. Drawing on both theory and empirical evidence, this paper argues that fundamental effects of links between labour productivity and food security are most times often overlooked currently in policy analyses. The study used a probit regression analytical procedure to explain the effect of labour productivity on food security of 180 Malagasy smallholder cassava farmers selected through a multi-stage random sampling technique. Results showed that 25% of the cassava farmers were food in-secure. Labour productivity had a direct relationship with food security status of farmers at 1% level of probability as well as membership of cooperatives and farm size. Aged farmers were more food insecure at 10% level of probability than their younger counterparts. Households with high dependency ratio and family labour tend to be food insecure at 1% and 10% level of probability respectively among the farmers sampled. The results therefore call for land re-distribution and re-form policies aimed at encouraging younger farmers who seem to be more labour productive by allocating more land to these group (as cooperatives) to increase cassava cultivation thereby giving a boost to food security.

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the role of self-esteem dimensions on student’s achievement motivation. The statistical population consisted of MSc students in College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran (N=712). According to Cochran formula, 175 students were selected through quota sampling method. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire which its validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. Its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficients (α ≥0.7). The results of descriptive statistics showed that the amount of achievement motivation, global self-esteem, family self-esteem and social self-esteem found to be at a moderate level, whereas their educational self-esteem was found to be at a low level. The results of ANOVA showed that there are significant differences among students based on their levels of self-esteem and achievement motivation. Students with higher levels of self-esteem had achievement motivation more than others. Moreover, the results of logistic regression demonstrated that different aspects of self-esteem (including global self-esteem, social self-esteem and educational self-esteem) has a great ability to predict levels of students’ development. These factors explained 69.10 percent of the total variance.

This study provides a framework and definition to the notion of talent management process and describes how it fits the human resources architecture of agricultural higher education system in Iran. This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews for data collection and systematic grounded theory methods for data analysis. For this study, we selected and interviewed 15 experts of agricultural extension and education and human resources management by snowball sampling. Furthermore, we transcribed and analyzed the interviews and literature using the MAXQDA software. Using the systematic Grounded Theory Method, our findings suggest that equal treatment with talents and other staff was the main concern of the experts. Based on the results, organizational factors and human factors were involved to resolve this concern. In addition, with regard to the contextual and individual factors, the talent management process can play an important role in improving workforce and the organizational performance in agricultural higher education system.

Institutionalization of Water Users’ Cooperatives (WUAS) is one of the strategies for cooperative irrigation management, which lays the foundation for the participation of farmers in tackling water shortage challenge to reach the objectives of sustainable management of agricultural water in an efficient manner. The main purpose of the present study was to identify the grounds for improving WUAs and prioritizing the effective factors for developing and strengthening these cooperatives. The statistical population was comprised of experts and members of the board of directors as well as elite farmers who were WUAs members in 2015 (n=40). The interviewees were selected through consensus sampling. The analytic hierarchy process was used to prioritize the mechanism of improvement and development of WUAs. Based on the final weights of the criteria, the mechanisms received the following scores: supportive mechanism (0.266), agricultural irrigation management (0.261), economic mechanism (0.183), education and extension (0.123), and legal mechanism (0.090) and WUA’s members’ attitude (0.076). Accordingly, the supportive, agricultural irrigation management and economic mechanisms were the most important mechanisms to improve WUAs. Hence, it is recommended that low-interest financing should be provided by the Agriculture Jihad Organization in collaboration with the Agricultural Bank for transforming from traditional irrigation to localized irrigation.

Getting advanced in communication and information technologies and their impact on all aspects of human life, the world is experiencing a new phenomenon named information society. Therefore, e-learning is a necessity to develop the quality of learning in this kind of society. The purpose of this study was to identify the barriers of e-learning implementation by M.Sc. Students in agricultural faculty of Islamic Azad University, Ilam branch. This research was applied and a descriptive survey method was used. The population of this study included 153 M.Sc. students in the agricultural faculty of Islamic Azad University (Ilam branch) that were studied by census method. Instrument of data gathering was questionnaire that its content validity confirmed by an expert panel. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire and its value was equal to 0.96. Findings of factor analyses showed that the barriers of e-learning included five categories such as: infrastructure barriers, attitudinal barriers, technical, professional barriers, human barriers and educational-skill barriers that these barriers explained 52.53% of the total variance.

Market volatility remains one of the most important research fields in agricultural economics.Interestingly, price transmission mechanism seems to be symmetric in sectors that are likely to be of high political power.This paper analyzes the price transmission effects from international markets to domestic markets for corn in Iran. For this purpose, we estimate the elasticity of substitution between imported and domestically produced goods. Annual data (1996-2012) are analyzed with an econometric framework based on the Maximum Entropy. The result shows that there is a substitution relationship between imported and domestic corn and in the end; domestic prices areaffected from world price more than the short run.

The present research carried out to study the relationship of market orientation and innovation and their effect on entrepreneurship and value creation for customers. To do so, as the sample was unlimited, 241 active companies in agriculture and food industry were selected as the samples by random sampling method. Via standard questionnaire, we gathered data on managers and senior expert's opinions about marketing and sales in each of the enterprises and analyzed data using the construct equations and with the help of SPSS and LISERL software. The results showed that market orientation affected entrepreneurship; value creation for customers, and innovation in entrepreneurship and value creation on customer have significantly affected. Also, the adjustability effect of innovation was confirmed on relationships between market orientation and entrepreneurship, and between market orientation and value creation for customers. According to the findings, it was illustrated that entrepreneurship did not have a significant effect on value creation for customers and also the innovation factor could not adjust the relationship between entrepreneurship and value creation for customers.

This study determined the situation of rural tourism and agro-tourism in Tehran Province as well as the expected economic impacts of agro-tourism development on it. In this research, we used documental research method and field research based on questionnaires and face-to-face interview. It was found out that despite different tourist attractions in rural areas of Tehran province, tourist arrival to the rural areas was only due to natural attractions. Almost all counties have agricultural tourist attractions, but no comprehensive and coherent programs have been implemented for the development of agro-tourism in the region. It was revealed that one job can be created in exchange for the arrival of nearly 133 Agro-tourists, that tourists in their rural trips are more willing to buy agricultural products and homemade processed foods as compared to handicrafts and other goods, that in rural trips, Agro-tourists will spend more money for their purchases than other rural tourists, and that Agro-tourists earn much more benefit on their purchasing as compared to rural tourists. Based on the results, the most important expected economic impacts of Agro-tourism development in Tehran province include the increase in Agro-tourist arrivals to the rural regions, the increase in job creation, the improvement of rural economy and much more Agro-tourism revenue in rural areas as compared to other fields of rural tourism.

The countrie's economy is basically dependent on both human and the natural resources so that social development of each country depends on them directly or indirectly. Nonetheless, some problems including the rapid growth of the population, unsustainable and unplanned exploitation, and lack of public awareness of development and reclamation rules have given an increase to the degradation process of these resources. So, one of the basic requirements to achieve the sustainable agriculture and rural development is sustainability in natural resource management and its protection. It should also be noted that public participation in natural resource management plays an important role in the prevention of this destructive process. The problem propels the aim of this research to determine the measure of agriculture beneficiaries’ role and importance in sustainable management. This research is an analytical - descriptive study which has a survey approach in collecting data. The statistical population consisted of 208 agriculture beneficiaries in villages around Hamadan city. Results showed that farmers could be classified into three groups: 34 percent in unsustainable group, 54 percent in moderately sustainable group and 12 percent in sustainable group. Also, multivariate regression showed that the variables of personal, extension and education, economics, policy and institutional and social activities could explain 79 percent (R2 = 0.791) of natural resources’ changes in agricultural sustainable management.