International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:12 Issue: 2, Jun 2022

The paper investigated the impact of the youth commercial agricultural development program (YCAD) on the poverty status of rural households in Ekiti State, Nigeria with the view to ascertain whether the program has increased par capital expenditure of the beneficiaries. We used a household-level survey collected through a well-structured and pretested questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke (FGT) weighted poverty index and Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model was used for data analysis. Based on the poverty line created, participants of YCAD who were poor were 33.1 percent while that of non-participants was 48.8 percent. The squared poverty gap index for the participants and non-participants had a value of 0.017 and 0.041 respectively. Education, access to extension, and membership in association significantly influenced household participation in the YCAD program. The result showed that household size, the total value of disposable assets, and access to extension services increases per capita expenditure among participants. With regards to non-participants, the result showed that male-headed household and occupations were positive and significant at 5 percent each. We suggested that government should replicate and scale up the YCAD program so as to expand and accommodate more beneficiaries having impacted positively on the poverty status of the participating rural households in Ekiti State Nigeria.

The present study aimed to determine extension requirements for slow food (SF) and to provide a model for SF extension in Iran condition.  The study employed the systematic approach of grounded theory for model development. The statistical population was composed of all key experts of SF extension of which 15 individuals were selected as the sample by the purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by semi-structured interview method and analyzed by the systematic approach of grounded theory through the three stages of open, axial, and selective coding. The reliability of the findings was checked by members matching and peer review. For members matching, four participants of the final report reviewed the first stage of analysis and the derived categories. The results of the analysis showed that 169 initial codes derived at the first stage of open coding were narrowed to 37 codes and were finally grouped into six categories. It was tried in the research to use SF extension experts’ views to answer the question as to how a model can be presented for SF extension by grounded theory. This model is based on a rational pattern that includes the causes and factors underpinning SF, contexts, supporting conditions in the SF model, strategies, and consequences of people’s lack of tendency towards developing an SF-based lifestyle. People’s awareness and knowledge were emphasized by both previous research and the experts interviewed here. The results show that people’s participation in decision-making has a significant impact on the SF model and all individual citizens should be covered by the training programs to reach sustainable food diets.

The implementation of Iran GAPs standards in tomato production can have a very important impact on reducing harmful contaminants to achieve a healthy and safe product. The present study investigates the factors affecting farmers' tendency to use Iran GAPs during tomato production operation in Ardabil province, Iran. So, based on Bartlett et al. (2001), 310 tomato farmers were selected from three counties of Parsabad, Kowsar, and Bilesvar using the multi-stage random sampling method. Iran GAPs standards were collected according to the list of standards of the National Standards Organization of Iran for tomatoes. The results show that the majority of farmers (61.3%) are at a low level of the tendency to apply Iran GAPs standards in the tomato production operation. In this regard, the activities of “using minimal chemical pesticides”, “using personal protective equipment”, and “not using empty cans and tanks of pesticides and fertilizers and their safe disposal” were among the last priorities for farmers. Also, the most important factors differentiating farmer groups are observability (0.271), GAPs training courses (0.269), complexity (0.219), farm size (0.198), and relative advantage (0.178), respectively. Establishing a marketing and sales unit in the agricultural centers of the studied counties, holding "farm day" programs and farmers' visits to successful farms, and creating a "Seed Bank" for tomatoes can increase the tendency of farmers to use Iran GAPs.

Economic appraisal of historical sites is the key to planning rural development for their management, preservation, and protection. The purpose of this study was to estimate the preservation use value accrued to visitors to Rudkhan Castle in the northwest of Gilan Province, Iran. The visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) was measured by using the contingent valuation method (CVM) and the one-and-one-half-bound (OOHB) model’s dichotomous choice (DC) questionnaire. Throughout the research, we stressed the fact that indifference, uncertain, and protest behavior can and do occur simultaneously in contingent valuation (CV) studies. The results showed that 75% of the people in the protection program of Ghaleh RudKhan Castle are willing to pay. The rest are not willing to contribute and are divided into three groups: unwilling to pay (4%), protests (20%), and uncertain (1%). Using the OOHB bid function, an expected WTP recreational value of US$ 0.566 per visit per household was estimated in 2019, and the annual welfare surplus of visitors was estimated at US$ 96250000. The average WTP in the ethical and consequentialist groups was estimated at US$ 0.643 and 0.67325, respectively. Also, the group unwilling to pay or true zeros was composed of seven respondents who explained their reasons as personal budget restrictions (86%) and the unnecessity of the program (14%). The protests group was also composed of 33 respondents and argued that it is only the task of the government (38%), only rural residents should pay (3%), only nonresidents should pay (56%), and not enough information is given on the proposal (3%).

Universities play an undeniable role in directing and explaining behavior patterns. This raises expectations from universities to institutionalize pro-environmental behaviors in their structure. It is so of crucial importance to identify factors affecting students’ pro-environmental behaviors as the most important human resources at universities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting students’ pro-environmental behaviors. The statistical population of this qualitative study was composed of agricultural students at Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. According to the the research aim, the PRISMA flow-chart were used to refine and select the appropriate data. Data were analyzed by using NVivo10 software. Results show that students’ pro-environmental behavior is affected by 10 factors, the most important ones being values and norms, experiences, social capital, knowledge and awareness, university infrastructure, organizational culture, curriculum contents, self-efficacy, and concerns over environmental degradation. Cluster analysis shows that organizational culture and individual values influence all other factors that underpin students’ pro-environmental behaviors.

Eco-linguistics concerns linguistic expressions that can improve the way human beings deal with their ecosystem. To reiterate, the connection between human language and the environment in which he lives has been a matter of curiosity for years. However, there has remained a question of whether it is nature including the ecosystem in a particular area that has effects on human language or vice versa. The next question which springs into mind would be the quality of the mentioned correlated link (i.e. language and nature) not to mention how these two sides can influence each other. Regarding the effects of language on human attitudes, and dictionaries as a main source of culture, the current study has selected all entries related to plants listed in “Farahng-e Bozorg-e Sokhan”. Based on studying 75,000 main entries, 1,312 entries related to plants have been extracted. Then, they were categorized based on botanical definitions as well as the parts of their body such as “wood, trunk”, “flower, blossom”, “fruit, nut”, “kernel, seed”, “nectar, syrup”, “leaf, vegetable” and “powder, or pollen”. After that, all entries’ usages as mentioned in the dictionary whether being beneficial for humans in the form of “food”, “medicine”, “industrial and decorative use” or being detrimental to humans in the arrangement of “drug, poison, and weed or wild plant” were analyzed according to an eco-linguistic perspective. On the basis of findings, 82 percent of definitions were positively or negatively humanized, while less than 18 percent were neutral in which plants were regarded as independent entities regardless of human benefits. On account of the tangible data in the findings of the study, it seems to be fair to say that human beings directed their attitude towards plants mostly for their own benefits and usages, the notion which was introduced conspicuously in the definitions of plants.