نشریه علوم ترویج و آموزش کشاورزی
سال نوزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 38، بهار و تابستان 1402)

Continuous evaluation and monitoring is a way of measuring project progress. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and monitor the plain management project based on agricultural parcels in the Kamin plain of Pasargad County, Iran. This descriptive-analytical research was based on survey technique. The statistical population of the study consisted of Pasargad plain’s farmers; out of them, 150 farmers sampled using Cochran formula. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and the reliability of the variables was calculated and confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.71 to 0.81). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The research findings showed that more than 54 % of the farmers have moderate and high familiarity with the plain parcel-based management Project. According to findings, local trusted farmers were the most important reference to familiarize farmers with the project. Furthermore, the results of the survey showed that although the total participation index was low, the highest participation rate belonged to the stage of project implementation. The results of the research also showed that overall satisfaction of farmers with parcel-based management Project is high. The most important finding of the research revealed that farmers have assessed the project to be effective. Informing the farmers about the tasks and objectives of the project, providing confidence to the experts, developing empowerment programs, and recognizing and respecting the position of the farmers in the decision-making and implementation process are some of the most significant practical recommendations.

Improved living standards and balanced cultural, economic, and social development are guaranteed by sustainable employment for the community members. Therefore, the system of technical and vocational education, which is responsible for preparing skilled and effective human resources, should be continually assessed. The goal of present research was to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) associated with Iran's formal secondary technical and vocational agricultural education and offer strategies for achieving a desirable agricultural secondary education. To fulfill this aim, a SWOT analysis was used to collect and analyze the data. The first step involved identifying the educational system's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In the second step, some strategies were presented based on those findings. The findings of strategic analysis of the SWOT model indicated the strengths (with a score of 6.52), weaknesses (with a score of 4.80), opportunities (with a score of 7.04), and threats (with a score of 6.88) for the country's secondary agricultural education. Based on the results, it was recommended that the adoption and implementation of aggressive strategies has to be given the highest priority by the policy-makers if they are going to build a desirable secondary agriculture education system. Planning and decision-making should take into account potential strategies such as legislation and the implementation of supporting laws, the allocation of financial and natural resources to graduates, and management and integrated specialized supervision over the operational processes of secondary technical and vocational agricultural schools.

The agricultural extension system has always needed transformation and structural adjustment from different dimensions; In order to achieve this goal, some reformative institutional approaches such as pluralism have been proposed. Therefore, the purpose of present mixed (qualitative-quantitative) study was to identify the components and imperatives of the pluralistic agricultural extension system in Iran which was performed using Delphi technique. The panel members included 20 people in the first round and 11 people in the second round who were selected purposefully based on their education level, research records, and having sufficient experience in the field of pluralistic agriculture extension. In order to analyze the data using SPSS software, statistical values including mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and Kendall's correlation coefficient were calculated. After doing two rounds of the Delphi technique, 10 main components for a pluralistic agricultural extension system were identified that were including organizational structure, information sources, agricultural extension agents, financial resources, policies and strategies, communication methods and channels, audiences, organizational and management methods, content and topics, and approaches. Also, the implementation of the Delphi technique in the second round led to the identification of 24 different imperatives for the pluralistic agriculture extension system in Iran, which were identified using the qualitative content analysis technique with a summarization approach. Based on the conceptual fit and semantic proximity of the concepts, these imperatives were categorized into 10 general groups including attention to extensional approaches, development of facilities and support services, structural imperatives, reduction of government tenure, legal imperatives, comprehensive coverage of groups and audiences, persistent monitoring and evaluation, networking and coordination between actors, capacity building, and development of professional skills and targeted content creation for extensional programs. In general, paying attention to the components and imperatives identified in this research can in practice be a suitable guide for designing a desirable model of pluralist agriculture extension system and implementing such a system in the country.

Khuzestan province, with its abundant flowing water and fertile lands, is the largest producer of food in the country and plays a decisive role in the country’s food security. However, over the last two decades, the water resources situation in this province has undergone fundamental changes in terms of quantity and quality, similar to other regions of the country. This research aims to present different scenarios for the reallocation of agricultural water resources in relation to the water-food-energy nexus in the Karun-e-Bozorg basin. This applied research uses a mixed methods approach based on the Cross-Impact Balance analysis methodology. The participants in this study included experts in the fields of water, food, and energy, who were selected using a purposeful sampling method. Primary driving forces were identified using expert opinion and a systematic review of authoritative sources. Interaction judgment matrices were designed based on the identified driver forces. After completing and weighing the matrices by a panel of respondents, data was analyzed using MIC-MAC and Scenario Wizard software. In this research, six driving forces were identified as key factors in the reallocation of agricultural water resources based on the water-food-energy nexus in the Karun-e-Bozorg basin. Finally, while presenting three main scenarios, suggestions have been presented for improving the reallocation system of water resources between water, food, and energy sectors in the study area.

 Iran encounters notable obstacles in establishing a strong standard system and issuing safety certificates for agricultural products, which are essential for maintaining a consistent supply of healthy food. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the challenges associated with issuing safety certificates for agricultural products in Iran, drawing insights from experts in the field. The research involved a statistical population of 79 experienced and knowledgeable experts, out of which 65 participants were selected using purposive sampling for the research process. A researcher-developed questionnaire with confirmed validity and reliability was used as the data collection tool. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics and confirmatory factor analysis within the Smart PLS software environment. This study resulted in identification of the key challenges in issuing safety certificates for agricultural products in Iran. The most influential factors were technical, technological, and informational challenges, indicating their significant impact on certificate issuance (path coefficient= 0.889). Additionally, political and program (path coefficient= 0.849), legal and institutional (path coefficient= 0.815), socio-cultural (path coefficient= 0.797), environmental (path coefficient= 0.657), and economic (path coefficient= 0.579) challenges were recognized as the other significant obstacles. These findings offer insights for implementing effective solutions to improve the process of issuing safety certificates and enhance the certification process of agricultural products in Iran.

The drought phenomenon in recent years has severely affected agricultural production and food security. Farmers also use urban wastewater to continue production, maintain viability, and supply irrigation water to farms. This is despite the fact that farmers may not have enough knowledge about the risks of using urban wastewater. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of farmers' viability in drought conditions and the perceived social risks on their behavior of using urban wastewater. This study was conducted among the farmers of Sistan region. A sample of 361 farmers was taken by the stratified random sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire which its content and face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and discriminant validity. In addition, using Cronbach's alpha and the composite reliability indices, the reliability of research tool was approved. Data processing was done using SPSSwin23 and AMOS22 software. The results showed that the indicators used for the measurement of the research variables were acceptably consistent with the factor structure and theoretical underpinning of the research. The results indicated that the means of the activist public-sphere behaviors, non-activist public-sphere behaviors, private-sphere behaviors, and organizational behaviors were significantly lower than the mean interval of the variables. The findings of the structural equation modeling showed that farmers' viability in drought conditions and perceived social risks have had a significant effect on their behavior of using urban wastewater. Furthermore, 75.8% of the variance of farmers’ behavior of using urban wastewater was captured by their viability in drought conditions and perceived social risks.

Considering the increasing rate of competition in the graduates’ job market as well as the increase in education costs and society's expectations from the higher education system to develop employability, the current empirical research has investigated the effect of drivers of social media usage and job seeking behavior on the employability of students of Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tehran. In this quantitative research which is a causal-relational study, 187 students (from all educational levels) were sampled from a population of 3500 cases using Daniel's limited population formula. Simple random sampling method was used to select the individual samples. A close-ended questionnaire was employed to collect data. The face, discriminant, and construct validities were checked and confirmed. Then,  coefficient was utilized to check the reliability of the research tool. The results of reliability test revealed that the coefficient for each construct was more than 0.7 as an acceptable cut-off vale. The dominant statistical method used in this research was variance-based structural equation modeling using Smart PLS 3 software. The modeling results indicated that drivers of the use of social media did not affect the job seeking behavior of students, while this construct had a positive and significant effect on the employability dimensions. Also, job seeking behavior positively and significantly affected employability dimensions. According to the results, it was suggested to set up an agricultural knowledge and information network in the agricultural higher education system.

During the past decades, with the indiscriminate use of some chemical inputs conventional agriculture has caused serious environmental and human health problems. In response to these problems, precision agriculture, as one of the sustainable agriculture approaches, has received more attention in recent years. Mazandaran province, which is one of the important agricultural producers in the country, has an un-favorable situation in terms of the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers; that is while, the efficient utilization of resource on a per-unit area basis is necessary due to limited land. In this regard, the aim of this research was to analyze the factors affecting the application of precision agriculture in Mazandaran province. This applied research was conducted qualitatively using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) method. This study applied a systematic review of internal and external research sources to identify the factors affecting the application of precision agriculture. Then, the required data were collected in the form of a questionnaire from the respondents. The statistical population of this research consisted of experts in the field of precision agriculture in Mazandaran province, 23 of whom were selected by a purposeful and judgmental sampling method. The analysis of previous research and sources showed that generally, 10 factors are effective in the application of precision agriculture. The results of the ISM analysis indicated that technical and professional, social, and individual factors are the most influential factors in the application of precision agriculture. Furthermore, economic factors, land condition, system of operation and management, and policy-making and macro planning factors were the other most influential factors. Paying special attention to these variables in the field of applying precision agriculture can help the growth and development of sustainable agriculture in Mazandaran province and increase productivity.

A suitable business model in the agricultural value chain enables the use of the full potential of the agricultural sector. The most important and first horticultural product of Iran is citrus fruit, which ranks 7th in the world. However, it occupied the 31st rank of the world market. The disproportion between the production and the effective share in the global market indicates that there is no good pattern in the product value chain. With the production of 1.4 million tons of citrus fruits, Fars province ranks second among the provinces of the country. This research is looking for an optimal model of citrus value chain according to economic, social, cultural, biological, and structural components. Delphi technique was used to prepare the required information and complete the questionnaire by holding briefing sessions with the participation and consensus of 32 experts of the province, including experts related to production, unions, leading gardeners, exporters, and experts related to the citrus processing industry. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used in order to analyze the data, calculate the weight of the criteria, and achieve the best citrus value chain model. The results of this research showed that the economic, socio-cultural, bio-environmental, and structural components in the province play a significant role in explaining the desired business model in the citrus value chain. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned four criteria and 21 sub-criteria studied, with the highest relative weight of 0.399, the "Orchestrator model" is the best model among the business models in the value chain. Furthermore, with a relative weight of 0.128, the "Integrated model", which was ranked last, is the least important model.

This research was conducted with the aim of phenomenological analysis of faculty members' lived experiences about teaching agriculture courses in the virtual education platform during Corona Virus pandemic using a qualitative approach. The statistical population of the research was the faculty members of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment of Arak University. Out of the population and with respect to the diversity and homogeneity in the academic year of 2022-2023, 20 faculty members were selected as a sample by purposeful sampling. Qualitative data were collected through five semi-structured interviews with open some questions until the emergence of the theoretical saturation. The thematic analysis was used as a method to recognize, analyze, and report the results obtained from the qualitative interviews.  Four criteria proposed by Spezial, Strobert and Carpenter were used to check and ensure the validity of the research findings. In the first stage of the data analysis, the information was written and presented in the form of some draft texts. After defining the unit of analysis, the categorization and coding the concepts were implemented. MaxQDA software was used to code the collected data. The findings of the research regarding the phenomenological analysis of faculty members' lived experiences about teaching agriculture courses in the virtual education platform during Corona Virus pandemic included factors like training, facilitation, infrastructural weakness, and psychological effects. From the participants’ point of view, virtual education opportunities included strengthening educational technology skills, expanding online teaching skills, expanding education, and strengthening virtual education infrastructure. Also, the threats of virtual education included educational issues, lack of cognitive presence, infrastructural problems, and lack of rules. It is worth mentioning that although the participants listed some threats for the virtual education, they proposed some solutions to make education more effective, strengthen infrastructures, and establish laws. According to the results of the present research, improving the teaching and content production skills among the professors of the agricultural college, improving the infrastructure of virtual education, and formulating specific rules in the field of virtual education were highlighted as the main practical recommendations.

The development or creation of value chains of agricultural products is the basic solution to improve the production, marketing and trading of agricultural products because the profit from it goes to the agents and actors of that chain, especially the producers. The purpose was to develop a desirable business model in the value chain of rice products in Mazandaran province. The population was all market participants and traders of agricultural products, processing factories, top producers and organizations involved and related to agricultural products, especially rice in Mazandaran province. The Purposive sampling method was used. Focus groups and collaborative meetings with a brainstorming approach were used for data collection with interviewing 20 people by questionnaire. The Analytic Hierarchy Process method and Expert Choice11 software were used for analyzing data. Based on the main criteria and sub-criteria, a suitable business model for Mazandaran rice value chain was developed. The results showed that the Orchestra model with a relative weight (0.328) was the optimal model for the development and extension of the rice value chain in Mazandaran.

Covid-19 is the third pandemic disease in the 21st century, which has seriously threatened human health, as well as economic, social, cultural, and even environmental relations. The rural society of Iran, as a society that has received less attention in health studies, has suffered many negative effects and consequences under the influence of the Covid-19 epidemic. By combining theories of protection motivation and planned behavior, this study investigated the drivers of protective behavior of rural households in the context of the pandemic and the two-way effect of economic issues on protective preventive behavior. The statistical population of this survey research consisted of 70600 rural households in Zanjan province. The sample size (300 people) was determined using Cochran's formula and sampling was done by a multi-stage random sampling method. The research tool was a questionnaire, whose validity was checked and confirmed using experts' opinions. The reliability of the research tool was also confirmed using a pilot study. The results of the research showed that the hypothesized model based on perception of Covid-19, perceived threat, perceived control, attitude, subjective norm, effectiveness, real cost, and intention explain 54% of the changes in the protective behavior of the rural households. Based on the results, the economic components had a two-way effect on protective behavior. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that protective behavior had a negative effect on supplementary employment. However, restrictions on supplementary employment caused a decrease in the financial power of the rural households to pay operational costs and practice protective behaviors.