International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:11 Issue: 4, Dec 2021

The present research aimed to use the concept of willingness to use and the ordinal logit model to evaluate the factors influencing the adoption of date palm leaf waste (PLW) by ranchers in the south of Kerman province in 2020. Data were collected by filling in 202 questionnaires by ranchers randomly selected at the study site. Based on the results, about 51 percent of the ranchers in the study site are reluctant to use PLW so that only 46 ranchers in the studied sample expressed their willingness to use it. The results of the ordinal logit model show that the willingness to use PLW in animal feeding increases with increasing the rancher’s ranching history, providing his/her with information for awareness enhancement, decreasing his/her concerns over the feedback of using PLW in animal feeding, and finally, membership in a cooperative. Also, the likelihood of PLW use in animal feeding is higher in large-sized animal farms than in small-sized ones (sheep and goats). Based on the results, to extend the use of PLW in animal feeding, it is necessary to take promoting actions among the ranchers in the study site to ensure them about the health of this feed for their animals. In addition, PLW suppliers can be provided with some facilities to supply their product in the market, and demonstration farms where this product is consumed can be used to reduce the wastage of this commercially capable product.

This study was therefore conducted to determine the effect of membership in agricultural cooperatives on the adoption of improved technologies in cocoa-based farming systems. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 200 respondents for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, adoption index and Tobit regression model. The results for the entire respondents showed mean values of 52 years for age, 29 years for farming experience, 10 people for household size and 6 ha for farm size. The average adoption level of improved technologies was estimated at 37% in the study area. Based on the average adoption level, about 61% of the sampled population are classified as partial adopters, while 39% are full adopters of improved technologies. Tobit's regression estimates revealed that gender, household size, farm size, hired labour, extension visits, and membership in agricultural cooperative significantly influenced the probability and intensity of adopting of improved technologies in cocoa-based farming system. The study concluded that membership in agricultural cooperatives has a significant influence on the adoption of improved technologies. Therefore, the study recommends establishing an agricultural cooperative that ensures efficient and effective training on improved technologies, as well as the strengthening the agricultural cooperative in order to provide microcredit necessary for greater adoption of improved cocoa production technologies among farmers. Also, cocoa farmers should be encouraged to participate in agricultural cooperatives.

Energy ratio and technical efficiency are the ways to explain the efficiency of farmers in crops production. The objective of this study was the application of non-parametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to analyze the efficiency of orchards, discriminate efficient farmers from inefficient ones and to identify wasteful uses of energy for grape production in Hamadan province, Iran. For this purpose, data were collected from 48 farmers by using a face to face questionnaire. The results revealed that the average value of technical, pure technical and scale efficiency scores of orchards were about 0.74, 0.86 and 0.84, respectively. The contribution of saving energy for chemical fertilizers was the highest and followed by diesel fuel & electricity with shares of 61.7 and 28.7 percent, respectively. The total energy savings calculated to be 14.3 percent of total input energy. Optimization of energy use improved the energy use efficiency, energy productivity and net energy by 16.8, 13.3 and 19.6 percent, respectively.

Since conventional foods can have different negative effects on human health and cause a variety of diseases, including cancer, the use of functional foods is highly recommended. In this study, the attitudinal factors affecting the acceptance of functional dairy foods (FDF) by urban consumers in Rasht (Guilan province, northern Iran) were investigated. Data were obtained from 223 households in Rasht City. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the effects of the general purchasing component as well as those of benefits of FDF, need of functional dairy foods, confidence in functional dairy foods, safety of functional dairy foods, health consciousness and healthy lifestyle, and willingness to buy FDF. The results show that the components of attitude towards healthy lifestyle and the general component of purchasing were the most effective factors in determining the acceptance of FDF by the households of Rasht City. The designed model explains 79.5 percent of the variation in willingness to use FDF. Given the benefits of consuming these products in preventing diseases and reducing health costs, public investments in awareness raising campaigns are needed to promote healthy lifestyle among urban consumers and increase the acceptance of FDF in Iran.

The demand for organic products has increased in the past decade due to concerns about the environmental and health issues of food products. This study provides marketing data on consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for organic rice in Babol County, Northern Iran. The main objective of this study was to estimate urban consumers' WTP for organic rice and to determine the main factors that consumers look for when purchasing rice. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and double bounded dichotomous (DBD) questionnaire were used to achieve the study goals. The results of the logit model showed that level of education, cancer history, and insurance history had statistically significant effects on WTP. The expected WTP for 1 kg of organic rice was 152467.33 IRR. Based on the average exchange rate of six months of 2018 (33500 IRR) per family in the study tends to the monthly equivalent of US$ 4.55 of their income to buy organic rice allocated. As a result, the total economic value of organic rice was US$ 2254893.072. These results provide important information about market opportunities and policy implementation regarding the production of organic crops.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate urban agricultural education effectiveness based on the Kirkpatrick model in Tehran, Iran. The study participants of this research were included all citizens participated in educational and counselling centers focused on flowers and plants in district two of Tehran municipality during 2016. The study participants consisted of 160 individuals, including 80 in the case group and 80 in the control group. The case group participated in urban agriculture training courses and the control group did not receive any training courses. The result showed a significant difference between the knowledge status of citizens before and after attending educational courses (P < 0.01). Also, more than 86% of the citizens perceived the courses' effectiveness at moderate to high levels. In addition, there was a significant difference between the case and control groups in terms of reaction and behavior levels (P < 0.01). The present study found that the urban agriculture training courses for citizens exhibited considerable effectiveness in the measurement results of the three levels of the Kirkpatrick Model and that overall, the course had received positive evaluations. Therefore, these training courses can be recommended to enhance the knowledge of citizens about urban agriculture.

Today, companies are well aware of the significance of sales and attempt to stabilize and/or improve their status in the competitive climate of the markets by increasing their sales. The present qualitative research aims to enumerate the factors influencing sales effectiveness using grounded theory to identify the categories underpinning the sales effectiveness of companies. The research data were collected from 10 experts in the food industry in Guilan province, Iran. The collected data were analyzed by coding in the MAXQDA software. Results show that 287 concepts (in terms of repetition) were extracted from the interviews at the first step (open coding). By considering the relationship of the concepts at the axial coding level (the second step), they were narrowed to 26 categories, and finally, six themes were identified at the third step (selective coding). These themes, i.e., the factors underpinning organizational sales effectiveness, include the firms' strategic orientations, marketing capabilities, sales control management, salesforce performance, and environmental factors. As well, sales effectiveness was decomposed into the categories of investment, profitability, market share, and customer satisfaction.