فصلنامه روستا و توسعه
سال پانزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 57، بهار 1391)

Land scarcity and infeasibility of its production make the practice of its operation and management to be undertaken in a suitable manner. Over recent years, the attitude toward land use management and rural residential land assignments in particular has been made from a sustainability viewpoint. In Iran, like some other countries, the government has attempted to assign national wastelands within a residential land plan to the rural people since 1979. This study aims at identifying strengths/ opportunities as well as weaknesses/ threats of such treatment and presenting a best strategy through the SWOT model. According to the study findings of the research done by the description and analysis of 264 rural household questionnaires and 22 questionnaires of the experts in Housing Foundation in six selected provinces, given the existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, a competitive strategy might be recognized as the best one.

This study aims at investigating the factors affecting rural people’s satisfaction with the performance of rural assistance offices in Koonani district of Koohdasht county in the context of management and rural development. It was conducted in a field survey method over the period of the summer 2011. The study seeks answer to the question “how much are the rural people of the Koonani district satisfied with the performance of the rural assistants?”. Statistical society includes 11 villages with active rural assistance offices in the district and with a population of 7443 people, out of which 368 people are selected as a sample size by Cochran formula; and then, the study questionnaires are distributed among them in a proportional assignment and simple random method. Analyzing the collected data through the Wilcoxon statistical tests, T Paired and Logistic Regression shows that the satisfaction of rural people is significantly related with the performance of rural assistance offices at a %99 level in the economic, social and physical- environmental dimensions; moreover, the most amount of influence in their satisfaction with the rural assistants’ performance refers to the economical factor.

As in many regions of the world including Iran, nomadic community was declined under the influence of urban renewal trend, and the settlement supported by governments was intensified, this study reviews formulation of a strategic plan for settling nomads of Tehran province. For this purpose, necessary investigations are carried out to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of nomadic community within a SWOT matrix; and, the concerned strategies are selected and four strategic factors are also determined by the elites of nomadic community. Then, its preciseness is tested through distributing a questionnaire with 41 questions among the nomadic community. The most important determined factor emphasizes on the hypothesis suggesting that the strategy of residing in winter quarters and migration in summer are appropriate. In the following, operational plans to achieve the determined objectives are formulated; and, finally, the perspective of the year 2025 for the nomad affairs of the Tehran province is drawn.

This study aims at evaluating the rice farmers’ efficiency at the South kamfirouz region of the Fars Province during the 2010-11 farm years. The data is gathered in a two-stage clustered sampling method. Results of the rice farmers’ efficiencies are produced by using a basic method of data envelopment analysis and then, compared with ones resulted from the supper efficiency envelopment analysis model. In general, the study results show that given a constant return to scale, the average level of the farmers’ technical efficiency is 83.93 percent in the model, standing in a range of 0.43 to 1.0. The same average in a model with variable return to scale is 86.25 and as shown, 29.16 percent of the farning units are found completely efficient. Considering the high average of scale efficiency in the farms and comparing it with the extent of technical management efficiency, it is made clear that the most important cause of farms’ technical inefficiencies is the difference in how to manage the use of inputs; and by applying a proper management of the inputs used in the process of rice production, it could be possible to reduce inefficiencies.

Participation is a consciously self-motivated involvement of individuals in a development plan and is also one of the crucial elements in rural development. The formation and continuation of this process in rural communities are affected by very different factors and conditions. Existing cultural and social values and norms in the rural communities are considered as one of the most important factors affecting the extent of rural people’s participation. This study aims at determining the participation level and the cultural and social effective factors in 25 rural settlements of the central district in the Jahrom county through a holistic approach within a descriptive-analytical and correlation method. Data collection is undertaken through a questionnaire by a sample size of 384 people, and the data is analyzed by using appropriate tests in the SPSS software. According to the results from t-student test, except for the indicators of “respect to others” and “fraudulent routines”, participation levels in most of the concerned indicators are significantly lower than the expected level. Ranking the cultural and social factors affecting the extent of participation indicates that the indicators like “importance of collective decisions compared with the individual ones”, “the people’s tendency to solve problems of the district” and “social communications”, which are supposed to enhance collective activities, have the highest share in the explanation of the people’s participation level. In addition, results from multi-variable regression show that the criterion of “social network” with a determining coefficient of 0.679 has the greatest impact on the participation level in the rural areas.

This study is an applied research conducted in a descriptive-analytical method in 2011 and generally aims at investigating the role of rural production cooperatives in promoting the technical and economic abilities of wheat growers in Meshginshahr county. Statistical society includes both member and non-member farmersk and the sample size includes one hundred people of these farmers residing in the villages covered by the rural production cooperatives. Data collection is done through a questionnaire in a survey method. Study results from ‘t test’ regarding the individual and technical characteristics of the two groups show that there is no significant relation between the variable of ‘age’ and ‘background in agricultural activity, and the variable of ‘cooperative membership’; but the membership variable is significantly related with some other variables including literacy, level of technical knowledge, yields, mechanization, optimal use of seeds, optimal use of fertilizers, optimal use of pesticides, appropriate irrigation method, and appropriate irrigation frequency. In addition, according to the study results of ‘t test’ regarding the economic characteristics of the two groups, there is no significant relation between the variables of ‘cultivation cost’ and ‘harvest cost’ and the membership variable, while this variable is significantly related with the variables of ‘land preparation cost’, ‘maintenance cost’, ‘total cost’, ‘yields’, and ‘incomes’.

This descriptive- correlative study aims at examining and analyzing the factors influencing the extent of farmers’ willingness to participate in water user associations. The statistical society includes all the member farmers in the water user associations of the Golestan province. The study is done through a questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which were approved earlier. According to Cochran formula, 190 individuals are randomly selected in a clustered sampling method; and finally, 186 completed questionnaires are analyzed. Study results indicate that the farmers’ personal-occupational, economic, educational-extension characteristic and also their attitudes toward the water user associations are significantly related to these farmers’ willingness to participate in such associations. Moreover, as shown by the results of regression analysis, the variables of “farm distances to agricultural service centers”, “attitudes toward the water user associations”, “amount of paid water price”, “extent of extension contacts”, “duration of the farmers’ membership in these associations” and “annual non-farm incomes” totally explain some 68 percent of the variations in “farmers’ willingness to participate in the water user associations”.

This study mainly aims at investigating the issues and problems of rural girls. Statistical society includes the rural girls living in Hamedan province in 2010; and among them, one hundred people are selected through sampling in a two-stage random method. This is a survey study that the validity of its tool was admitted by technical experts and its validity coefficient was also confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha (92.50). Study results indicate that the rural girls face five categories of problems (factors) and among these, the first priority goes to the cultural-social problems; also, 77.784 percent of the total variance is totally explained by these factors; in addition, the individual and social variables influence the rural girls’ problems. Finally, according to the study results, a number of recommendations in solving the rural girls’ problems are also presented.