International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Sep 2021

The purpose of the present study was to examine an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model within the domain of sustainable entrepreneurship and identified the most important factors impacting on sustainable entrepreneurial intentions in sustainable entrepreneurship. In particular, the study aimed to extend the TPB model to include sustainability orientation and prior sustainability knowledge. Data were collected from 211 Iranian agriculture students. The results of structural equation modelling showed that sustainable entrepreneurial intentions were determined by attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control (PBC) but not subjective norms. The analysis also revealed that sustainability orientation and prior sustainability knowledge influenced sustainable entrepreneurial intentions indirectly through their effects on attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship and PBC. As a practical implication, educators who want to stimulate the creation of new sustainable businesses could consider the pivotal role not only of attitudes toward sustainable entrepreneurship and PBC but also of sustainability orientation and prior sustainability knowledge.

People’s life has been always determined by the importance of their basic needs. From time to time, the world has made significant progress in terms of infrastructure and technology, pathways to good living conditions. Urban areas house most of the world’s population, and there has been a surge in interest in researching urban ecosystems. For many, urban areas are sometimes viewed as concrete jungles, with limited fauna and flora dominated by nonnatives and homogenous taxa across regions. This settlement in urban areas creates rapid urbanization which in return has harmful impacts on the environment. There is growing awareness that cities affect almost every ecosystem on earth, significantly contribute to the loss of biodiversity, which are increasingly vulnerable to environmental change. Urban areas can also be healthy natural environments when mixed with blue and green infrastructures, which operations perform a range of benefits known as ecosystem services. Ecosystem services include but are not limited to pollution reduction, soil protection, carbon sequestration, cooling effect, and air purification. Healthy ecosystems are the foundation for sustainable cities, influencing and affecting human well-being and most economic activity. To better understand the growing concerns and find key actions to be able to fight against them, this study uses different scenarios to evaluate the restoration effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services through a typology with two main categories. One part describes the structure of different ecosystems, which are the compound of blue and green infrastructures along with their respective biodiversity.

The study analyzed gender differences in market participation among small holder sweetpotato farmers in South East Nigeria.A stratified random sampling was used to select 360 respondents (180 male and 180 female) for the studyin 2016.Market participation Index (MPI) and logit model wereused to estimate the level of participation and decision to participate in the sweetpotato market by gender respectively.The results showed that the females farmers tend to participate more in the market more than their male counterparts. The coefficients for age and distance from farm to market were negative, education and market orientation were positive and significantly related with decision to participate in the market for both male and female farmers.The coefficient for household size was positive and transportation cost negative and significant at 5% and 1% level respectively for the male farmers, while area of sweetpotato cultivated and marketing experience were positive and significant for the female farmers at 10% and 5% respectively. The coefficient for gender had a negative sign indicating that female farmers are more likely to participate in the sweetpotato market compared to the male farmers. The results call for policies aimed at investment in rural education, access to land (especially to female farmers) and provision of enabling environment through continuous rural training and provision of incentives like credit and inputs to encourage and attract young male and female farmers to remain in sweetpotato production.

In this study, we address a broad question that relates foreign development aid to economic growth in 41 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries employing panel data spanning a twenty-five-year period. The panel data was analysed using fixed effect Ordinary Least Square model. We explored the within-country rainfall distribution to identify the impact of foreign development aid per capita (Value of Official Development Assistance)on GDP per capita. Identifying aid with exogenous rainfall shocks will plausibly address the endogeneity bias identified in previous studies. In the first stage, we find that rainfall shocks negatively correlate with amount of aid per capita received suggesting that countries with negative economic shock receive more foreign assistance than countries without. However,in stage two, we find that aid per capita has a statistically weak and negative impact on income per capita in the region.We can identify several practical reasons why aid may fail to translate to growth in this region. For one, because aid is a form of unearned rents, aid meant for public consumption could be privately appropriated by political elites, distort capital accumulation, and could undermine the broader economic development when there is an income shock. While SSA countries receiving aid may not grow faster than countries without, aid might still play an economically useful role at the micro-level. Specifically,aid could be beneficial if local inputs at the micro-level are actively involved in allocation of resources and deployed for the identification of developmental needs.Aid could also be useful at suppressing civil conflict associated with climate vagaries.

Crop marketing has an important role in accomplishing goals such as agricultural development, production increase, and enhancement of farmers’ income in developing countries. Citrus production, especially sour lemon, is one of the most important productions in Larestan County, Fars province in Iran. So, the determinants of the sour lemon marketing system improvement were prioritized in Larestan in this study using Analytic Network Process (ANP) in which data were collected through a questionnaire filled by experts in the region. Criteria were the 4Ps (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price) in the marketing mix and here were also some sub-criteria for each of the criteria. The criteria and sub-criteria were chosen based on other studies and also experts’ views in the region. Results showed that product and promotion criteria had the first and last priorities in improving the sour lemon marketing system in Larestan County, respectively. In addition, proper packaging and designing to create a competitive advantage was the most important sub-criterion for improving the sour lemon marketing system in the region. Also, the creation of processing industries and using marketing cooperatives were the next most important sub-criteria, respectively. According to the results, it is suggested to develop proper packaging, processing industries, and marketing cooperatives in the region.

In recent decades, unsustainable human activities have had devastating and irreversible effects on environmental, social, and even economic sustainability; thereby leaving countries and governments with many problems, including migration, marginalization, increasing poverty, and class disparities. It has been argued that integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into corporate structures and economic activities (including rural cooperatives) can make outstanding contributions to recovering from past shortcomings and neglect of the natural environment. This requires identifying factors affecting CSR activities in rural cooperation. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to increase CSR-related activities among the stakeholders of rural cooperatives at Kamyaran township (N=14100). A researcher-made questionnaire was used to achieve the research purpose. The validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed by an expert panel and Cronbach’s coefficient (α ≥ 0.71). Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Findings showed a positive and significant relationship between supportive, monitoring and directional strategy (SMDS), regularity and mental and structural ability (RMSA), and participatory mechanism (PM) with CSR level in rural cooperatives. Moreover, stepwise regression findings indicated that the identified factors accounted for 36.4 percent of the variance in CSR.

Potato production is considered as one of the strategic objectives of Iran’s agricultural programs.The present study aimed at investigating the production costs and economic benefits of this product in Ardabil city. To do so, 183 potato producers were randomly selected and were asked to present their ideas concerning the production costs and benefits through a questionnaire and an interview. A field study was also taken into consideration to enrich the data. The collected data were analyzed through measures of Chi-square, Wald test, and Translog cost function. The results revealed that the cost function structure was non-hemotetic with respect to the Chi-square statistics (36.8) and results of the constant non-returns and non-homogeneous Wald test to the scale’s F- statistics (17.04) were non-cobb Douglas. Allen cross replacement relationship was positive for the dichotomies such as workforce and machinery, machine and seed, workforce and seed, workforce and water, and finally seed and water. However, it was negative for machinery and land inputs, machinery and water, land and machinery, land and labor force, land and seeds, and land and water. The calculated cost elasticity was -1.5044 which indicated a decrease in the average costs for an output increase as the production cost was found in the downstream part of the cost curve. The economies of scale of 2.504 indicated a 2.5 percent increase in the yield for one-percent increase in the cost.

Occupational performance serves as one of the most influential components in organizations incorporating an important part of organizational studies. One of the factors that is expected to lead performance in contravention of the organization's goals is the problem of job burnout. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate the job burnout role on occupational performance of experts in Jihad Agriculture Organization of Mazandaran, Iran. The statistical population comprised 255 experts; 155 experts were selected for the study using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire composed of two sections of job burnout section encompassing issues on emotional fatigue, personal accomplishment failure, depersonalization and conflict, and occupational performance section covering areas like ability, role clarity, support, encouragement, assessment, credibility and environment. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts' opinions. Also, based on the average variance extracted (0.554 >AVE< 0.741) and composite reliability (0.846 >CR < 0.944), the questionnaire had a convergent validity and appropriate reliability. SPSS16 and Smart PLS2 software were used to analyze the data. The achieved results of the research showed that job burnout had a significant negative impact on occupational performance of experts in Jihad Agriculture Organization. According to the achieved results of the research, it is recommended to create incentives such as giving responsibility to experts and encouraging and respecting them.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of academic burnout components on academic achievement among agricultural students at Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University (RANRU), Khuzestan province, Iran. The statistical population consisted of all senior agricultural students at RANRU (N=390) of whom 200 were selected by the stratified random sampling method (n=200). The main research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts, average variance extracted, and discriminant validity, and its reliability was established by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Data were analyzed by SPSSWin23 and SmartPLS3 software. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that academic burnout components (emotional exhaustion, academic cynicism, and academic inefficacy) had significant and negative effects on academic achievement among agricultural students at RANRU. The study may be useful to teachers, counselors, managers, policy-makers, and parents who may be able to assist students to reduce burnout. It is recommended that programs be developed to create awareness and encourage students in order to reduce academic burnout.