International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:11 Issue: 1, Mar 2021

DOR: https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.21595852.2021.11.1.1.3/
In recent decades, climate change and frequent droughts have had great impacts on farming systems and have led farmers to become accustomed to these conditions, which are causing problems, especially, for smallholder farmers. With the severe weather events and their adverse effects, especially in arid regions, farmers' adaptation to these changes is indisputable and critical strategy. Thus, farmers need to make complex decisions about mitigating the adverse effects of climate change to take advantage of newer opportunities as possible. The understanding of the process by which farmers decide to stand facing climate changes and probing into the determinants of the process provide research evidence for policy makers to assist farmers to adapt to climate change effects. This article would establish a conceptual framework, inclusive of factors influencing farmers’ decision-making to adapt to climate change, and would clarify causal relations among these factors. According to the results, household characteristics, economic factors, knowledge, motives and goals, perceived outcomes of adaptation, social, personal norms, perception of climate change, perceived risk and obstacles, attitude towards climate change, prospective perception of climate change, the evaluation of climate change, and adaptation initiatives could influence farmers’ decisions to adapt to climate change.

Students' academic achievement is one of main indicators in evaluating higher agricultural education. One of the most effective strategies in terms of academic achievement is to reinforce self-directness and meta-cognitive skills. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of elf-directness and meta-cognitive skills on the academic achievement of agriculture students in Iran. This research was a descriptive-correlational study using a survey technique. The instrument adopted in this study was a questionnaire which validity was confirmed by a group of curriculum developers and educational planning specialists in the higher agricultural education system. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to determine the reliability of this scale. Cronbach's alpha values ​​for different variables showed the acceptable reliability of this instrument (0.74≤α≤0.96). The statistical population of the study consisted of the agriculture students in Iran (N=236973). The sample size was estimated to be 150 persons by using Cochran statistics and two-stage sampling method (cluster sampling and proportional stratified random sampling). The results showed that the variables self-directness, metacognitive skills, and social conditions had a positive and significant effect on the academic achievement among these students. In total, they could predict a significant percentage (68.1%) of variance for the variables academic achievement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative advantage of production and measuring the competitiveness of major crops of Urmia County by the policy analysis matrix (PAM) in 2016-2017. The results of the comparative advantage indicators indicated that Urmia has a comparative advantage in the production of irrigated wheat, rain-fed wheat, rain-fed barley, sunflower, tomato, chickpeas, and red beans, but it has no comparative advantage in the production of irrigated barley and sugar beet among the major crops of the region. The three indicators of comparative advantage applied in this study include net social profit (NSP), domestic resource cost (DRC), and social cost-benefit index (SCB). According to the NSP index, tomato production has a higher comparative advantage over other crops, and red beans, peas, sunflowers, buckwheat, buckwheat, and barley are in the next ranks, respectively. According to the cost competitiveness index, all surveyed crops had cost competitiveness. The results of reviewing the protection indicators, including net protection coefficient input (NPCI), revealed that indirect subsidies were paid to tradable inputs for all studied crops. The nominal protection coefficient output (NPCO) index for irrigated wheat, rain-fed wheat, sunflower, rain-fed pea, and red bean indicates an indirect tax on the production of these crops by the government.

As a major source of income in most countries, the agricultural sector is of a key importance among all economic activities. The improvement in productivity and efficiency is one of the main goals to accomplish economic growth and prosperity. Productivity enhancement has always been a major concern for all economic enterprises that produce commodities and services, and it is imperative to consider all of its aspects when planning for development. The present study aims at analyzing the variations of the productivity of production factors and measuring technical efficiency and productivity of farmers in Khash County, Iran using window data envelopment analysis (WDEA) method. So, the technical efficiency and productivity of the farmers were examined over the 2013-2016 period. The results show that the studied farmers have an average technical efficiency of 0.99, which is relatively high and indicates that the barley farmers are efficient. Indeed, the Malmquist productivity index reveals that the average variation of total productivity in the studied county was 1.95 over the studied period. One of the most effective factors influencing total productivity variations in agriculture is technological change. It is suggested that the new technology of agricultural technology (field integration and use of new irrigation) be used to increase the productivity and productivity of barley crops in the region.

This study aimed to investigate potato growers’ attitudes towards and perceptions of the drivers and barriers of precision irrigation technologies (PIT). A survey research method was employed for data collection from a sample of 240 potato growers of Ardabil County. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. It was validated by a panel of experts. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to be 0.813, 0.870, and 0.766, implying the high reliability of the instrument for attitudes, drivers, and barriers, respectively. Results showed that the respondents were in middle age with good farming experiences. The majority of them were lowly literate. Their knowledge was low on working with PIT. More than half of them had moderate to high negative attitudes, while the attitudes of the rest were somewhat very positive. Attitudes showed a significant and positive correlation with level of education, income, and knowledge of PIT. However, age, farming experience, and cultivated areas showed a negative correlation with attitudes. Based on regression analysis, the variables of level of education, knowledge of PIT, and information sources accounted for 46.5 percent of the variance in farmers’ attitudes. The sample was divided into two subgroups of 120 farmers, one for responding to the items of drivers and the other for responding to the items of the barriers. Factor analysis extracted three factors with eigenvalues of greater than one, namely water efficiency, easy farming practices, and financial benefit, which accounted for 63.18 percent of the variance in drivers, and the five factors of knowledge, technical, skill, managerial, and logistic barriers accounted for 63.12percent of the variance in barriers.

Experts believe that a solution to avoid the inefficiency of university graduates, especially graduates in Agriculture, is to revise the practical courses, especially internships, and transform and amend them. Taking this point into account, this study aimed to design a model for the internship course in the Iranian Agriculture Higher Education using the Delphi technique. The mental basis of this study was Akker’s ten-phase model. The panel was composed of the university professors supervising agriculture internship courses (N=34) and the employers to whom the students referred for passing the course (N=63). The results from the perspective of employers and the university professors, after three Delphi rounds, determined items for ten components of internship courses, i.e., logic, objectives and goals, content, learning activities, the role of trainer, materials, and resources, classification, location, time, evaluation and appraisal, which were used as the basis for the development of an internship model.

In many countries, private sector provision of agricultural extension services is recognized as a key factor in the process of agricultural development. Insufficient attention to the private agricultural extension system in Iran, despite its relative success, has made it imperative to explore and identify appropriate strategies to improve and develop its activities. The statistical population of the present study consisted of 40 knowledgeable and experienced experts of agricultural consultation and technical service firms as a sample of private extension systems in Iran. The research used the SWOT and TOWS methods as the basis for the AHP technique known as the hybrid A’WOT method. In the first step of the research, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of these firms were evaluated. The results of the first step were used to extract 11 strategies by the TOWS diagram. In the second step, to identify the most appropriate strategies to improve the performance of private extension firms, 12 experienced experts were sampled from the research population by the snowball technique. The research instrument was two questionnaires whose validity were determined by face and content validation methods and whose reliability were estimated by Cronbach’s alpha and inconsistency ratio strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats were assessed  in the first step. Then, TOWS was employed to develop 11 strategies. In the second step of the research, the AHP technique was used to identify the most appropriate strategies. The ranking of the strategies revealed that the strategies “financial support of firms and farmers in order to lay the ground for the privatization of agricultural activities” and “orienting the attitudes of the policymakers and managers of the public sector towards the role of private extension activities” were the most important strategies to improve and develop these firms in Mazandaran province, so they should be considered by the officials.

Agricultural production decision-making is becoming more complicated due to the inherent complexity of the interaction between natural and human processes as the heart of agricultural systems. Predicting the behavior of agricultural systems is critically important for sustainability issues. Since agriculture is a human activity that is dependent on its main actors, farmers’ behavior needs to be investigated in terms of the extent to which their activities are consistent with sustainable agriculture initiatives. This study is based on the documentary research method conducted by a systematic literature review. The main goal was to review and analyze pro-environmental behavior theories in terms of their strengths and weaknesses during the time period of 1975-2016. The strengths and weaknesses of each theory were described after the introduction of each theory. On the other hand, a comparison of the theories based on seven indicators is presented too. About 14 theories were reviewed to reach agent-based theories of decision-making, in which feedback is provided on the system. Based on the results, the agent-based integrated theories are diagnosed to be the most suitable and comprehensive for the study and prediction of farmers’ behaviors among the studied theories.

Solutions to reduce the vulnerability of farmers and beneficiaries to climate change in Khuzestan province will be discussed.

The present study was performed in three stages of qualitative study and one stage of quantitative study. The statistical population of the qualitative section consisted of 83 highly experienced farmers and those suffering from climate change, 18exemplary farmers introduced by the Jihad Agricultural Organization of Khuzestan province, 33PhDand237M.A. students in agriculture from various universities in the province as well as100agricultural experts from the Agricultural Jihad Organization. The research variables were also categorized into six solutions and three barriers (challenges) in the third stage of the qualitative investigation, and introduced for a quantitative stage. The fourth stage of the study was a quantitative stage in which the statistical population consisted of 384 farmers and farming beneficiaries in Khuzestan province. The tool for data collection in the quantitative stage of the questionnaire was based on a Likert scale. As well, the sample in the quantitative and qualitative stages was selected via convenience method.

Economic losses has been affected by various such solutions as economic-financial-support by the government, as well as training-promotional, technical-agricultural and social issues. Also, environmental damages have been affected by economic-financial as well as supportive solutions by the government, training- promotional and institutional-infrastructure issues, and finally psychological-social ills and technical-agricultural damages have been affected by managerial and technical-agricultural solutions, respectively. The solutions stated in the practical dimension face barriers or challenges. Suggestions have been made to address these barriers.

Nowadays, the sustainability evaluation concept of agricultural entrepreneurship has become as one of the most prominent subjects among the researchers and policymakers. Despite the existence of numerous frameworks for assessment, there is no common agreement on selecting sufficient indicators for assessing the sustainability of agricultural enterprises. This goal was pursued with an emphasis on applicability by adopting a descriptive-analytical approach based on a survey with the Delphi technique. For this purpose, first, a conceptual framework for the identification of components, criteria, and indicators of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship was determined, and then the set of indices that could signify the status of sustainability in agrarian entrepreneurship activities in rural areas of Kurdistan province in Iran were extracted with the help of a panel of experts consisting of 30 entrepreneurs, university instructors, and experts on agriculture in Kurdistan. The data collected from the panel was analyzed by multi-criteria decision-making method, namely Fuzzy Topsis. The results suggested a framework of indicators for the assessment of the sustainability of agricultural enterprises in the study area. The ultimate objective of this study was to discuss and test a suggested framework to improve for broader use in similar regions.

The present casual-comparative study generally aimed to analyze the factors affecting the development of the organizing plans related to Zagros nomads among all relevant experts and managers (n=1100). The sample size was determined by using the sampling table of Bartlett et al. (360) and stratified random sampling was used with respect to working place. Based on the results of path analysis by using AMOS 23 software, the maximum effect on developing the plans of organizing Zagros nomads was obtained in policy making (=0.59), as well as economic and supportive factors (=0.56). In addition, marketing (=0.52), managerial (=0.46), infrastructural (=0.44), and educational, extensional, and participatory factors (=0.36) affected the development of the plans positively and significantly, respectively. The results of the study can be utilized by policy makers, planners, and relevant managers for supporting decision makings in order to attain sustainable development, along with paying more attention to the nomads in the area.