International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:12 Issue: 3, Sep 2022

The dairy industry has a major part in the added value and occupation of agriculture part. The products of this industry have a significant portion in the Iranian family consumption basket by providing the cheapest protein sources in the country. The goal of this study was to identify the relationship between the life cycle of the product (growth and maturity stage) and marketing strategies (the creation and development of new products) through innovation strategy (market and learning orientation). This study was done during March until September in 2018 in the Bazar Gostar Pegah Co. of the region one in the country, which includes the provinces such as Gilan, west Azarbayjan, East Azarbayjan, Qazvin, Zanjan and Ardebil as one of the five regions of the milk industry of Iran (Pegah). The hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings of this study revealed that the product life-cycle and innovation strategy both have a significant and positive effect on marketing strategy (new product creation and development). The findings of this research make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge in this field and should assist scholars and innovation managers to better understand the importance of the relationship between marketing strategy activities and product innovation strategy in the context of the dairy firm.

The relationship between women's empowerment and microfinance has been studied in many countries, including Iran. But, few studies have examined the impact of women's microfinance consumption path on their empowerment. Therefore, this study aims to answer the important question of what effect the path of microcredit consumption has on women's empowerment. Given the importance of the type of loan used in women’s economic empowerment, 13 ways of spending by women were identified. These routes can be divided into three general paths: (1) starting a small business, (2) indirectly investing with the possibility of return, and (3) spending the loan without the possibility of its return. The main question was how much women are empowered if they choose each of these paths. The statistical population consisted of 800 women in Nahavand Township. The sample size was determined to be 260 people according to Krejcie and Morgan’s table taken by the stratified sampling technique with the proportional assignment. The questionnaire's reliability and validity were confirmed by computing Cronbach's alpha coefficient (more than 0.7) and content validity, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS20 software. The results showed that women in the first path became more empowered than the other two groups. The other two paths did not make a significant difference in the empowerment level although the second path slightly outperformed the third path in empowering the women. Credit-paying institutions must exercise greater control over how women use their credit by fundamentally reviewing payment laws.

Drought is one of the most complex and at the same time most underrated phenomena compared to other natural disasters, yet it has had drastic, and sometimes catastrophic, effects on essential human activities across the world since ancient times. Drought is a slow-moving hazard with negative social and environmental consequences. Crisis management is part of the drought management cycle. In Iran, crisis management is the primary strategy adopted against this crisis, and consists of a spectrum of related regulations that codify the responsibilities of every organization, institution, and people from all walks of life against drought. One of the main flaws in crisis management is the absence of suitable laws and regulations and their proper execution. This study aims to review drought crisis management focusing on parliament approvals. The study results showed that there are no comprehensive and exclusive regulations against drought in Iran. There were also certain challenges associated with the implementation of these laws. This study can help reduce vulnerabilities and improve coordination in the management of drought crisis.

Virtual social networking (VSN) is an important new technology that can redesign the structure of society and help create a learning community on campuses. This research aimed to explain the strategic position of universities in the implementation of VSN and formulate appropriate strategies for its effective implementation. SWOT analysis, along with the construction of multilevel matrices, was used to achieve this goal. The statistical population was composed of the faculty members of Iran’s agriculture sciences and natural resources universities, 28 of whom were selected as a statistical sample using the "special cases" sampling method. Data were analyzed using SPSS and MS-Excel software. In the qualitative phase, verifiably was confirmed by the following steps: 1) self-review of the research committee during the process of data collection and analysis; 2) use of special coding procedures in the analysis stage; 3) carrying out research steps by testing items such as raw data, data summarization products, and the noting process; 4) interview with faculty member separately and comparing their answers, and 5) using a steering committee to evaluate and conduct interviews. The validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed by the universities’ faculty members and Cronbach's alpha calculation (0.83-0.92). Findings from the SWOT matrix showed that the studied universities were in a reformation (ST) position in using VSN. By using the SWOT matrix, we developed four strategies to implement VSN in the studied universities, which included attack strategies (SO), diversification (WO), reformation (ST), and defense (WT).

Iran has many critical environmental changes and challenges, especially in agricultural development. These challenges are due to land reform and subsequent modernization. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the paradigmatic trend of agricultural environmental management of Iran. The study was accomplished through reviewing archival research findings as well as analyzing the content in different documents and worldwide databases. To do so, various global paradigmatic perspectives and strategies about the environmental management were reviewed. Moreover, by reviewing different environmental laws, rules, regulations, and activities in Iran, three distinct phases in environmental management including 'enthusiasm for modernization activities (1962- 1974)', 'concerns about environmental issues (1974- 2005)', and 'crisis of environmental management (2005-present)' were revealed. Thus, the most important problems leading to the unsustainable environment in the three phases and the reasons resulting in the failures of macro-policies were addressed. It is possible to declare that inappropriate paradigms within environmental management thinking, i.e., sustainability, as well as inconsistencies between the paradigms and strategies could be traced in different periods. The findings provide the researchers with the fact that the dominant perspective in environmental management is frontier economics via emphasis on economics and fewer considerations over ecological problems. Accordingly, the environmental degradation increased, via which the authorities were not successful to conduct collaborative systematic actions since the evidence represented the mere accomplishment of some sporadic strategies. As the pedagogical implications of the study, it should be asserted that a basic paradigm shift in environmental activities from technocentrism to ecocentrism seems to be necessary to achieve sustainable agriculture.

Nutrition is recognized as both an input to and a result of sustainable development, where agricultural production also plays an undeniable role. Alborz, one of the major provinces of Iran, faces several issues that have been adversely affecting its food security over the years and the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture been has deemed to be a necessity to alleviate these problems. The research in hand investigates the interventions affecting the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture production in Alborz Province and structures a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) analysis to prioritize these interventions, as well as identifying the best implementation strategy to be followed in the area of the study. To achieve this goal, the Analytical Network Process (ANP) has been employed. Based on library and documentary studies and interviews with experts and authorities, the structure of the ANP model has been developed and pairwise comparisons have been made. Results indicate that income generation for nutrition was the most important intervention, followed by nutrition-sensitive post-harvest handling, storage and processing. Decision makers and authorities should dedicate more attention to these aspects in the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Alborz Province. Also, a long term (6-20 years) implementation strategy has been found to be a better alternative to target and plan for by the decision-makers and authorities.