نشریه تعاون و کشاورزی
سال هشتم شماره 30 (تابستان 1398)

Water is an urgent input in agriculture and its optimum consumption needs management and water users associations can be a tool for this intention. The purpose of the study was to identify the factors affecting the adoption of water users association with an emphasis on social capital. The study was quantitative in nature, applied in terms of purpose, and descriptive regarding the degree of variables control. All farmers around the project area of development and equipping of subsidiary irrigation and draining networks in Ramshir Township in Khuzestan Province (N = 382) formed the population of the study. The sample size was estimated according Cochran formula as 95 people, who were selected randomly as the sample of the study. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose face and content validities were confirmed by experts and reliability of different parts of it by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results indicated that more than 67% of the subjects studied are in the low and average levels of social capital index. Moreover, the existence of a relatively strong and direct correlation between social capital and the adoption of water user association was another result. Furthermore, social capital, participation in extension courses, and economic motivation were, respectively, the most effective factors in accepting water users association.

Given the intrinsic origin of the problems of agricultural production and trade in Iran, this study aimed to examine the current state of planning and the role of information systems in the planning of agricultural production in Iran to design a system effective agricultural information. This research, in terms of purpose, is descriptive and the survey, in terms of data collection, is descriptive and, in terms of the nature of the analysis, qualitative. Required information was obtained through the purposeful sampling method and through the analysis of themes, through the analysis of documents and reports and interviews with managers and experts in the field of management and planning of crop production and information technology of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad and its affiliated organizations.The results showed that in the agricultural field of Iran, there was no systematic exchange of information about farmers between farmers, agricultural experts with farmers and other stakeholders. Therefore, the use of information systems in the agricultural field was not only necessary, but also obligatory in Agriculture management has been identified so the comprehensive information Agriculture system is provided and a comprehensive agricultural information system and design is essential.

The purpose of this research was to investigate collective entrepreneurial marketing in agricultural production cooperatives. This applied research was carried out using survey research method. The statistical population of this research were consisted of the all members (shareholders) of the 13 agricultural production cooperatives in the Kurdistan province (N=3500), of which 346 were selected using cluster sampling technique. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The validity of the questionnaire was determined based on expert's view and reliability was confirmed based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient for different scales (from 0.853 to 0.932). The results showed that 48.3% and 30.9% of respondents have moderate and high tendency to collective entrepreneurial marketing, respectively. According to the correlation matrix, there is a positive and significant relationship between collective entrepreneurial marketing and collective branding variables (r=0.500 and sig=0.000); tendency to collective innovation (r= 0.114 and sig=0.034); and Social capital (r= 0.112 and sig=0.037). The path analysis showed that collective branding directly (0.475), tendency to collective innovation (0.129) and social capital (0.090) indirectly have a positive effect on the collective entrepreneurial marketing.

Rural production cooperatives, as organizations that had at the same time strong economic and social dimensions, form an important part of the organization formed by the membership and management of villagers. Regarding the role and importance of these companies in sustainable rural development, the overall aim of this study is to investigate the role of rural production cooperatives in sustainable social and economic development of rural communities of Guilan province. This research was descriptive-correlational. Data was collected using a questionnaire from 184 members and non-members selected by cluster sampling. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and exploratory factor analysis and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. The research findings show that more than half of the members and non-members are assessed for the level of economic stability, social sustainability and overall sustainability at the semi-sustained level, and only a small fraction of the beneficiaries are in sustainable conditions. The results of the research showed that there was a significant difference between the members of the rural production cooperatives in terms of economic stability, while there was no difference in terms of social stability between the two groups. Also, structural and financial factors of production cooperatives had,  a positive and significant relationship with both economic and social sustainability, but the relationship between managerial characteristics of production cooperatives and economic and social sustainability is not statistically significant.

The present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the challenges of nomadic cooperative companies in Ilam province. It is an applied study based on the goal, In terms of method, qualitative, and in terms of the philosophy of research, it is an interpretation research type. In order to analyze the data from semi-structured interviews, a thematic analysis has been used. The population of this study included 10 knowledgeable people in the field of cooperative subjects as well as appropriate texts for extracting indicators (theoretical literature). In this research, a snowball approach was used to select samples. As a standard for the end of sampling, the thematic saturation method is used. Thems were obtained using the two sources of theoretical literature and semi-structured interviews. The result of qualitative data analysis led to identifying 65 basic themes, 10 organizing themes, and finally 4 contextual themes including structural, managerial, economic, and socio-cultural challenges which all of them presented in the form of a model. Finally, suggestions were made in this area based on the results.

Like most organizations today, in order to achieve effectiveness in the agriculture and natural resources sector, there must be a balance between both the governmental and non-governmental sectors in carrying out the activities.  Given the need to increase the rate of delegation to nongovernmental sector, the current study was conducted at the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture. Using a qualitative method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers or experts who had the experience of delegating projects to private sector (n=21). Data were analyzed using MAXQDA software. Findings showed that in the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture the most important part of the delegations to private sector has been in extension and training services. Presently, the role of the government is largely in the field of "national policy making and decision making in the agricultural sector", and there is a need for the involvement of the nongovernmental sector in this field. Also, the part of the nongovernmental sector in the "investment" is very large, and the need for supporting, guidance and assistance to small farmers in this field is apparent. In the field of "management, monitoring and evaluation", the participation of non-governmental organizations, especially the public and cooperative institutions, is very limited.  One reason is the lack of lobbying power and low ability of these organizations to negotiate with government. Therefore, in the list of suggestions in this research, the first and most important one is to empower the non-governmental sector to play its role in improving the condition of agriculture and natural resources in Iran.

Islamic urban and rural councils and upper-hand councils are among special fundamental institution in Islamic republic of Iran that have been founded based on the system of decentralization. Despite the particular importance attached to Islamic councils by constitutions and ordinary laws and the fact that this newly establish has had opportunities and capacities for doing its duties and powers, this councils have faced several challenges in the face of those opportunities.in this respect legal obstacles of councils can be studied separately in terms of structure and organization. Conflict articles of constitutions concerning structure and status of Islamic councils and the lake of necessary features for a local institution in ordinary laws are considered as one of the most fundamental structural barriers facing Islamic councils. It seems necessary for the guardian council to provide an interpretation of the constitution in line with relegation of decision making and administration of local affairs to councils, using legal capacities of councils present and effort of Islamic council assembly in enacting of appropriate laws in line with reinforcing the position of council.