International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Mar 2013

The purpose of this study was to assess the process of extension program development in Iranian Agricultural Extension System (IAES). The research instrument was a structural questionnaire with close-ended questions which its validity and reliability was confirmed by using expert panel and Cranach’s alpha test, respectively. The target population of this research included all extension managers who were responsible for doing extension activities in Iran’s townships (N=334). According to Krejcie and Morgan’s table, a number of 191 persons selected as statistical sample in a stratified sampling method, and finally 198 questionnaires were gathered and analyzed (n=198). Overall, the use of the process of extension program development in IAES was at less than moderate level. The other results also indicated there was the significantly positive relationship between selected demographic characteristics of extension managers with their viewpoint on the use of the process of extension program development in IAES. These results highlight the need for the reform of the process of agricultural extension program development in IAES.

The research analyzed the land tenure system among rice farmers in Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two hundred and forty (240) farmers were sampled by a multi stage sampling procedure and used as respondents for the study. Well-structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The main means of data analysis were percentages and correlation. Findings revealed that 46.7 percent of the respondents were within the age range of 31-40 years. Majority (77.9%) of the respondents were married and full time farmers. The predominant system of land ownership among the respondents was by inheritance. Land fragmentation was perceived to be the major constraints to land ownership in the study area. The results further showed that farm size correlated positively and significantly with annual income (r=0.519, p<0.001) and the yield significantly and positively correlated with marital status (r=0.243, p<0.001), annual income (r=0.604, p<0.001) and farm size (r=0.727, p<0.001). The problems of land tenure system that affects rice production as revealed by the study were Land fragmentation, Excessive land ownership, Land litigation and Expropriation. The study recommended that legislation given rice farmers title to land should be enforced by government in consideration of the fact that rice production need to improve to meet the demand of the teaming populace in the study area.

The study assessed beneficiaries’ satisfaction in the management of loag-contract components by cooperatives involved in the farm credit delivery in Edo State. The objective was to identify the components of the farm loan contract, examine the management strategies and rate the beneficiaries’ satisfaction of such management strategies. This was done by purposively selecting 40 cooperatives involved in farm credit delivery in Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba-Okha LGAs of Edo State where there is a proliferation of cooperatives who are actively involved in farm credit delivery. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, queuing model and satisfaction indices. Results showed the main loan-contract components to be loan volume, repayment regime, interest rates charged, default management, collateral required, timeliness and loan monitoring. Average beneficiaries' index was 4.28 out of 5 indicating high satisfaction originating from good queue management with traffic density of 1.12, moderate interest rate of 9% p.a, active loan monitoring, no physical collateral, timely disbursement of loan and accommodative repayment regime. Only individual loan volumes were low as a result of inadequate loanable fund. Study recommends that cooperative societies should take advantage of external sources of funds to boost the volume of their loanable funds.

This question has always been put forward in the mind of curious people why some countries have developed termed in spite of very few natural resources and facilities while other countries have not developed in spite of having more suitable resources and facilities. Various factors such as economy, culture, geography, etc. are perhaps a background to answer this question, but there is a more important factor that, in similar conditions, causes the development of some countries and that factor is to consider human resource as a fundamental capital and how to use their abilities and talents. The phenomenon of creativity and innovation, like many peculiarities of human beings, are found in all mankind and it is these motivations and individual and environmental conditions that make the creativity factor vivid. Among the features of intelligent organizations are: systemic thought, easy accessibility to information and so on all of which have originated from the well-beginners of creative and innovative people. This article deals with innovation and creativity, as the most important Haman capitals, the relationship of brain and creative thinking, powers comprising mind capabilities, divergent and convergent thinking and the factors making innovations and creativity. The findings of this research indicate that with respect to increasing change and transformations of today’s societies, the organizational thinkers in the 21st century are different from the thinkers in the 20th century. Critical thinking following creative thinking has created a new approach in the human capital of organizations. Therefore, the organizations that have employed this approach are successful.

Iran due to its unique condition in terms of tourist attraction and because of the specific location and a variety of natural resources and human Phenomena, that different regions of the country including Guilan province has a typical position in terms of tourism which attracts a lot of tourists. By itself, ecological, environmental, cultural, historical and religious attraction in the north, we will see more development in the tourism industry by formulating and scientific solutions and preservation of cultural values and the environment. In this research, a descriptive– analytical approach has been taken in order to achieve mentioned goals. Also major sources of tourism are identified by field and library (Book, Magazines, Relevant document) study and with SWOT pattern, strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities will be specified and analyzed. The present research with fundamental question that whether tourism development reduces the effects of economic sanctions? Based on this assumption that, the development of tourism can reduce the effects of economic sanctions and we can use tourism industry as a means to deal with economic sanctions and create employment opportunities, distribution of income, foreign exchange increase, reducing migration, raising the living standard, regional balancing, transferring value to unprivileged area, development of rural and urban communities and the cultural and ethnic unity for the attainment of national unity.

The purpose of the study was to identify the constrains affecting urban agriculture in Tehran, Iran. The statistical population of this study consisted of city dwellers within the 22 municipal districts of Tehran out of which 320 individuals were selected as the sample of the study. Cochran’s formula was used to determine the sampling size based on stratified sampling method. A panel of experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire used in this study. The calculated Cronbach’s alpha for the main sections of the questionnaire was 0.95 and 0.93. Results of the ranking of constrains and challenges revealed that “high start-up costs” and “lack of knowledge among managers and authorities” were among the most important constrains. The results of factor analysis revealed that 7 factors including “education-research”, “infrastructure”, “support”, “regulations and policy making”, “technical”, “financial-economic” and “cultural” explained 67.36 of the variance. Although list of constrains revealed is not perfect, this work paves the way for further research regarding factors influencing urban agriculture. It also provides interesting information for planners about the challenges of urban agriculture development.

In the last decades, rice yields in South Asian countries grew tremendously in one hand and a noticeable yield fluctuation on the other. The objective of this study was to examine the rice yield distributions, estimate yield risks at country level, and compare risks between five countries namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Anderson Darling (AD) test was applied to test the goodness-of-fit for four distributions by using country level de-trended rice yields from 1961 to 2010. Results showed the Normal distribution was fitted well in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, whereas the Wei bull distribution in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. The average yield risks at 85% of the expected yield were found 5.29, 4.27, 3.86, 1.55, and.15% in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, respectively. Wilcoxon signed rank test results of mean absolute percentage differences showed yield risk in Bangladesh was significantly lower than the rest four counties and that in Afghanistan was significantly higher than Nepal and Bangladesh at 0.1 level. The outcome of this study could give policy implications for designing and implementing the risk reducing programs in the countries with higher yield risk.

The future of biomass energy in the global energy system depends on many major factors, among others on the attitude of society in rural areas to the biomass energy and the renewable energy resources. Biomass energy plays increasing role in rural areas with its contribution to the self sufficiency of people in the countryside. The paper deals with the analysis the opportunities of utilization of biomass energy sources giving example of a Hungarian study area and to study the possibilities of the cooperation and management regarding biomass industry in a certain rural region. Furthermore, the aims of this analysis are on the one hand to predict the potential renewable energy of the Eger Micro-region and on the other hand to research the theoretical possibilities of a value added chain in biomass industry. The main conclusion of the paper is that economic benefits can be locally embedded through local distribution of profit generated by sales of energy or financial benefits from energy saved by efficiency activities local training and employment opportunities and local shareholding. Furthermore shareholding can also involve individuals resident outside of the local community, forming part of a more spatially dispersed ‘community of interest’ involved in, and supportive of, the development.