نشریه علوم ترویج و آموزش کشاورزی
سال هجدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 36، بهار و تابستان 1401)

In recent decades, unsustainable development of agricultural activities in the Lake Urmia (LU) catchment area has led to drying up of a significant part of the lake. In addition to the negative impacts on the quality of life of local communities around the lake, this issue has had a devastating effect on the quality and quantity of agricultural activities in the region. Accordingly, it seems that the development of sustainable agriculture (SA) can be considered as one of the most important steps towards the revitalization of LU. Due to the importance of the subject, the main purpose of this applied research was to identify and analyze the strategies for the development of sustainable agricultural activities in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan in order to revitalize LU. The statistical population of the research was 27 renowned experts and specialists in the Conservation of Iranian’s Wetlands Office, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Department of Environmental Protection, and Agricultural Technical-engineering Firms in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. In this research, first, internal and external factors affecting SA activities were identified using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) technique. Then, the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) technique was employed to prioritization of acceptable strategies for the development of SA activities. According to the results, in both West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan provinces, the opportunities for SA activities outweighed its threats, and at the same time, the strengths of SA activities outweighed its weaknesses. Also, the results of this research showed that in terms of strategic position, SA activities in both West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan provinces were in a developmental position or maximum-maximum. In this regard, the most important joint strategies at the level of both provinces were included "institutional empowerment and synergy of inter-sectoral capacities in order to use the existing potentials in different governmental and non-governmental sectors in the provinces" and "linking SA activity with environmental protection issues with emphasis on the conservation of LU".

To achieve sustainable agricultural development, it is necessary to achieve sustainable water consumption. The United Nations has introduced sustainable agricultural water consumption in the sense of negative growth of water consumption. Success in the implementation of effective sustainable water consumption measures depends on knowing the components of behavior change and the background conditions in which farmers are engaged in agricultural activities. The present research was conducted with the aim of analyzing sustainable agricultural water consumption behavior through the framework of the integrated model of behavioral-contextual factors. The statistical population was all the farmers of Minodasht county, whose number was 2358 cases. Based on Cochran's formula, the sample size was estimated to be 331 cases who were selected through a multi-stage random sampling method. The face validity of the researcher-made questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ​for the questionnaire variables ranged between 0.60 and 0.98, indicating acceptable reliability. SPSS22 and Smart PLS2 software were employed for data analysis. The results showed that attitude, subjective norm, risk, self-regulation, and ability are the most important determinants of the behavioral intention of sustainable water consumption, respectively. Except ability, all these variables significantly were influenced by the water ecological belief. In other words, the results demonstrate that farmers’ perspectives and beliefs about water resources can be considered the main determinants of changes in psychological components. This ultimately affects the preparedness for the sustainable water consumption behavior. Also, the water ecological belief factor was significantly influenced by contextual variables.

The current qualitative research was done with the aim of analyzing the challenges facing the potato value chain based on the farmers’ opinions and providing solutions to improve it by emphasizing the provision of market- oriented extension services. The participants of this study were potato growers in Hamedan province who were purposefully selected using the snowball sampling technique. The content validity of this research was determined by a team experts. After conducting more than 10 hours of in-depth interviews with 14 potato growers, theoretical saturation was obtained. Reliability is very important in the content analysis method. Therefore, after the initial classification and evaluation of the concepts, the content was re-coded, classified, and evaluated, and if there is a high match, the results of the analysis of two coders were re-evaluated and accepted. Qualitative data analysis from semi-structured interviews in Nvivo10 software led to the extraction of 75 concepts in open coding and 8 core categories which were represented using two support activities and the main Porter value chain. Accordingly, most of the barriers raised by the respondents were financial-based concepts from the group of support activities and the lowest frequency in terms of source and number of references was related to outbound logistics and service operations from the main activities.

Rural women’s small businesses make huge contributions to the rural development. However, success and survival of these businesses has been a concern. Hence, it is critical to understand the factors influencing success of rural women’s small businesses. The present study examined whether two psychological sources, namely entrepreneurial resilience and empowerment were positively related to the entrepreneurial success of rural women. The statistical population of the study included all rural women entrepreneurs in Sistan region, Iran  (N = 1546). Then, 250 people were selected as the sample using a non-probability convenience sampling procedure. The research instrument was a questionnaire, which its face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α > 0.74). The results of structural equation modeling showed that entrepreneurial resilience and empowerment were positively and significantly related to the entrepreneurial success of rural women. The results also indicated that empowerment was indirectly related to the entrepreneurial success of rural women through the resilience. Therefore, it is suggested that rural women entrepreneurs’ psychological resources, especially resilience and empowerment be strengthened and developed in order to improve the level of their entrepreneurial success.

Today, business continuity management has become an important part of the foundations of organizations. So that by implementing the principles of business continuity, not only the welfare and security of the employees are provided, but the ability to direct the main activities is also facilitated. Organizations should consider business continuity management not as a costly planning process, but as a value-added and very important improvement process. Due to the nascent nature of this discourse and the lack of widespread familiarity with its principles at the level of various governmental or non-governmental companies, the main purpose of this study was to analyze the knowledge of knowledge-based companies’ members located in the Science and Technology Park of Kerman province in Iran regarding the principles of business continuity management. The study was conducted by a cross-sectional survey to collect data from 218 members of the companies. Data were analyzed using inferential statistics and structural equation modeling based on SPSS and SmartPLS2 software. The results of the causal analysis showed that the respondents` attitude had a positive effect on the principles of business continuity management and competitive intelligence on the improvement of knowledge regarding the principles of business continuity management of companies. Also, the variable of new product creation directly and indirectly affected knowledge about the principles of business continuity management of companies. The mediating variable of government policies also had a direct effect on business continuity management knowledge. Therefore, it will be an important and influential factor for the survival of companies.

Although climate change and water crisis result in changing the geographical and yield ranges of crops, there are few studies focusing on the determinants farmer’s intention to adopt crops suited to water resources. Accordingly, this study has been done to evaluate the Jiroft farmers’ intention to adopt this effective invention as a strategy for reducing the cultivation rate of the crop with high water requirement. This study has been conducted in one of agriculturally important plains named Jiroft plain which has been located in southeastern of Iran. The study sample consisted of 393 farmers in Jiroft plain. The study samples were selected using Krejcie and Morgan table and stratified random sampling approach. Farmers’ intention to cultivate crops suited to water resources was empirically examined using two the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the health belief model (HBM). The associations of the constructs were examined using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results showed that the construct attitude and subjective norm accounted for 41.7% of the variance of farmers' intention in TPB. In contrast, the results revealed that 67.3% of the intentions in HBM has been predicted using cue to action, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility, and self-efficacy. The results indicated that both theories potentially can predict the farmers' intention. However, HBM is better than TPB in terms of explanatory power.

Consideration of social responsibility by organizations is one of the factors influencing the quality of services and development of human resources and can be based on organizational performance assessment. In this regard, the main objective of this descriptive-correlational research was the investigation and cross -validation of social responsibility components from the perspectives of agricultural extension field staff. The statistical population was composed of 250 agricultural extension field staff in Tehran province. According to the Cochran formula, 135 of them were selected through quota sampling method. Data was collected with a questionnaire which its face and discriminant validity was at a satisfactory level. Questionnaire reliability was confirmed by composite reliability index (ranged from 0.85 to 0.93). Accordingly, the main expected current research contribution was to provide a standard scale for measuring the level of social responsibility of the agricultural extension organization. The results showed that the questionnaire used to measure and distinguish the dimensions of social responsibility of the Agricultural Extension Organization is of acceptable validity and after refining its items and adapting it to the organizational culture of the country, it has an plausible ability to distinguish the levels of social responsibility of the organization. Considering the importance of measuring the social responsibility of the organization in assessing the performance of agricultural extension activities, as well as the formation of the basis for the development of extension activities, some practical suggestions have been forwarded.

Agricultural training, extension, and research tours are one of the innovative education methods for transferring new knowledge and technologies to agricultural producers. This educational approach is "farm-oriented" and is used for practical training of new technologies to the beneficiaries. Also, this approach is of entertaining and motivational significance. From 1392 -1398, Imam Khomeini Higher Education Center (IHEC) of Agricultural Jihad Ministry organizes educational, extensional, and research tours to train progressive farmers. Assessing the socio-economic impact of these training programs can be an appropriate tool to determine the level of achievement of goals and strengths and weaknesses of this program. For this purpose, a mixed method-based research was conducted. The statistical community in the qualitative section included managers and experts participating in the tours. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population included the progressive farmers participating in the tours held during 1392 -1398 (N= 302). Using Cochran's formula, the sample size was estimated (n=100). The measurement tool in the quantitative stage was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were tested and confirmed. Based on the axial coding in the qualitative part of the research, deficiencies related to the executive management, scheduling, evaluation, infrastructure, and advertising were the most important weaknesses of the tours. Also, scientific development, development of participation and improvement of communication, development of learning experiences, and development of entrepreneurship were the most important positive impacts of tours. The results of the quantitative part of the research demonstrated that the educational tours in all four levels of the Kirkpatrick evaluation model (reaction, learning, behavior, and results) have obtained scores higher than the mean. The scores related to the evaluation and result stages (which require the use of technologies and clarification of the economic and technical results and achievements of this application) were slightly lower than the scores of the reaction and learning stages. These results is related to the time-consuming nature of these changes. Furthermore, in all four stages of the Kirkpatrick model, the mean rank of those who had agricultural-related education was higher than those who had studied in other fields. However, these difference were statistically significant only in the reaction and behavior stages.

The agriculture sector plays a critical role in ensuring food security. However, the incidence of natural hazards such as drought has threatened the sustainable supply of foods in some vulnerable areas. Also, it is projected that the intensity and extent of droughts will increase in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. Therefore, enhancing the resilience of farmers to current and future droughts is imperative. This requires a comprehensive and fundamental recognition of the factors affecting the resilience of agricultural producers. Present qualitative research was conducted with the aim of investigating the drivers of farmers’ resilience to drought in the Sistan plain. In this respect, a purposeful sampling method was employed and the required data was gathered through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with a panel of experts, as well as observation and field notes. Using the grounded theory approach, the causal conditions (climate change, water depletion, and soil degradation), contextual conditions (knowledge and awareness, psychological, socio-cultural, information and communication technology, and ecological factors), and intervening conditions (economic, institutional, and extension and education) were identified. Also, adaptation strategies (technical-agricultural management, water resource management, financial-livelihood, and legal-infrastructural factors) and consequences were investigated. In the end, some recommendations and policy implications were provided to enhance the resilience of farm families against drought.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze the key actors of groundwater resources with a focus on sustainability in the Karkheh-Olia catchment in which the future research approach and actor analysis technique (Mactor) were used. The information was collected through interviews and actor-actor and actor-target questionnaires. The sample included 11 subject experts and university professors in the form of three three-person panels and one two-person panel, which were selected purposefully. The results showed that 16 actors are effective in this field, and Program and Budget Organization and the Islamic Parleman are the most competitive actors scoring 2.50 and 2.13 points, respectively. In contrast to non-governmental/civil organizations, the Housing Foundation and the private sector were the most uncompetitive actors who have scored 0.06, 0.2, and 0.4 respectively. In addition, the results showed that according to their goals and mission, most of the actors agree more to achieve two goals, including development of non-agricultural jobs in rural communities and development of infrastructure to attract investments, which were assigned 27.8 and 21.2 points respectively. According to the results, most of the actors have divergence (pursuing separate goals) and their degree of convergence (agreement to realize the common goal) in the planning and policy-making of water resources management is at a weak level compared to each other, which should be seriously addressed in the plannings and policy-makings of water resources management.

The aim of this study was to assess the level of sustainability of livelihoods of rural households in Selseleh city under drought conditions. This research is applied in terms of purpose and data collection. The statistical population of the study was the heads of rural households in Selseleh county (N = 10888). Using Krejcie and Morgan table, the statistical sample size was estimated 379 cases. In order to select the samples, a multi-stage sampling method was employed. The analytical framework used in this study was a sustainable livelihood framework. Stability radar method was used to calculate the level of stability. The results of the research showed that out of the five livelihood capitals, four human, natural, social, and financial capitals are of average level of sustainability. In addition, the results revealed that physical capital is in a potential sustainability state. The final results of measuring the level of sustainability among the sub-counties of Selseleh city indicated that with the highest and lowest scores, Firouzabad and Honam were the most and the least sustainable sub-counties in the studied region, respectively. Based on the findings, it is suggested that more planning be done in order to increase the financial capital and improve the access of rural households to financial resources such as low interest loans and long-term installments. Also, the necessary measures should be taken into consideration to correct the current process of allocating drought credits so that the less fortunate and poor households can benefit from such facilities in a fair way.

The main purpose of this applied research is to analyze the factors affecting the behavior of rural households in water consumption. The information required for the research was collected by survey method and a questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS and Amos software using structural equation modeling approach. The statistical population of this study consisted of rural households in four rural areas of Baghmalek of Khuzestan province (N = 3005) that based on Krejcie and Morgan table, the sample size of 340 households was selected. Samples were selected using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The results obtained from the structural equation model of path analysis showed that the variables of intention and self-efficacy have positive, direct, and significant effects on the behavior. Also, perceived reaction effectiveness, perceived vulnerability, attitude towards behavior, perceived severity, and subjective norm had indirect and significant effects on the behavior through the intention. Finally, this framework for examining the variables affecting water consumption behavior can predict 45% and 55% of the changes in the behavior and intention, respectively. In addition, the research findings showed that the integrated model of the two theories of planned behavior and protection motivation as a research framework has more power to explain the behavior and intention of rural households to conserve water than the two theories separately.