Original Article
Education and training
Seyedeh Marzieh Razeghi; Hasan Sadighi; Mohammad Chizari
Articles in Press, In Progress, Available Online from 01 June 2020
Abstract
Sustainable agricultural and rural development requires knowledge and information, skills, attitudes and technologies, which run through a network of actors to produce, distribute and use it in a particular place. The model of the Agriculture Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) is designed based ...
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Sustainable agricultural and rural development requires knowledge and information, skills, attitudes and technologies, which run through a network of actors to produce, distribute and use it in a particular place. The model of the Agriculture Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) is designed based on this recognition. In Iran, There are about decades of experience in the development of this system. The purpose of this Delphi study was to develop a listing of those challenges facing Iran's Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS). Panel of experts consisted of extension offices, natural-level researchers, faculty members of Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), and university faculty in agricultural extension and education. The panel identified 86 challenges of AKIS in Iran that were classified into 8 categories consisting of Participatory-institutional, Policy-legal, Information broadcasting-communicational, Monitoring and evaluation, Actors competency, supportive-motivational, management-structural and infrastructure-environmental.
Original Article
Education and training
Mohsen Mohammadi; Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri; Seyed Sadjad Seyed Sabouri
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 01 January 2017
Abstract
This paper aims at studying the role of agricultural education and extension methods on the use of renewable energy by farmers in Semnan Province. The research was a practical study in terms of goal and was a descriptive-correlation study in terms of methodology. The population of the study was composed ...
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This paper aims at studying the role of agricultural education and extension methods on the use of renewable energy by farmers in Semnan Province. The research was a practical study in terms of goal and was a descriptive-correlation study in terms of methodology. The population of the study was composed of Semnan Province poultry farmers that used any type of renewable energy. In total, 89 people were analyzed. Data collection tool was questionnaire (composed of 29 main questions and 108 minor questions in a Likert scale). The questionnaire was designed after consultations with university professors and research literature. The validity of the questionnaire was measured in terms of the form and content and its reliability was tested with Cronbach's alpha which ranged from 0.801 to 0.925. It was found that there was a strong significant relationship (r = 0.773) between education and extension methods (participation in the extension and educational courses, visits to farms using solar power, holding workshops on agricultural extension centers, experts’ visiting of poultry, watching videos of farms that use solar energy, production and distribution of educational brochures among farmers, designing related programs at universities, watching videos of the construction of solar power farms, broadcasting radio programs and educational broadcasting from local TV channels) and the use of solar energy by farmers. Based on the farmer’s view, participation in the extension and educational courses was the main source for obtaining the needed information. Also according to stepwise regression, 78.5% of the change in the dependent variable was explained by the variables of “visiting farms using solar power”, “participation in the extension and educational courses”, “production and distribution of educational brochures among farmers”, “holding workshops on agricultural extension centers” and “experts’ visiting of poultry”.
Original Article
Decision-making
mohammad ali dadashi; Vahid Khasheii
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 21 September 2017
Abstract
The purpose of the present research is to examine the effect of coating the tertiary irrigation canals on farmers’ satisfaction in Sowme’eh Sara, Guilan. The study was conducted using a survey research methodology. The statistical population included 14 tertiary canalized schemes in Sowme’eh ...
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The purpose of the present research is to examine the effect of coating the tertiary irrigation canals on farmers’ satisfaction in Sowme’eh Sara, Guilan. The study was conducted using a survey research methodology. The statistical population included 14 tertiary canalized schemes in Sowme’eh Sara up to the end of 2013, Including totally 2434 hectares .The share of each beneficiary was 0.7 hectare according to the extant statistics and documents in water and soil management of Agricultural Jihad Organization of Guilan. Based on Morgan and Krejcie’s Table, 340 beneficiaries were chosen by stratified random sampling. The main data collection tool was a self-made questionnaire whose face and content validity was improved and finally accepted by water and soil experts and professors. In order to determine the reliability of the research, the questionnaires were answered by 30 members of the statistical population. Afterwards, using SPSS software and Cronbach’s alpha test, the questionnaire’s sustainability was assessed and 78% was computed and confirmed. The independent variables under study were age, literacy, the number of individuals under guardianship, workload, product performance, costs, securing agricultural goals etc. and the dependent variable was farmers’ satisfaction of coating the streams. Each of the variables was categorized and assessed based on Likert Scale. The effect of each independent variable on farmers’ satisfaction was evaluated through SPSS software and Spearman’s rank correlation. The results showed that there is a semantic relationship between literacy, workload, product performance, costs and securing agricultural goals variables and farmers’ satisfaction.
Original Article
Ronak Alipour; Ardashir Shiri; Homayoon Moradnezhadi
Articles in Press, In Progress, Available Online from 17 May 2020
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to designing an Information Management Model for Entrepreneurship Education in Rural Areas of Ilam Province The methodology of the study was descriptive using Delphi technique. Purposive sampling was used in this study and 15 experts including faculty members, managers and ...
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The purpose of this study was to designing an Information Management Model for Entrepreneurship Education in Rural Areas of Ilam Province The methodology of the study was descriptive using Delphi technique. Purposive sampling was used in this study and 15 experts including faculty members, managers and experts were selected and participated in three stages of Delphi research. In the third round of Delphi, the final model consisted of seven components (data collection, data storage, data quality control, data analysis, information dissemination, documentation and information sharing and utilization) and 22 sub-components were approved by experts. The results showed that in order to apply the entrepreneurial education information management system, it is necessary to identify the required information (economic, social, cultural, infrastructure, ecological, etc.) in rural areas. To store information, data should be entered into a system designed to manage the entrepreneurship education information system. Also, according to the results of this study, quality control, analysis, dissemination, documentation and exchange of entrepreneurship education system data will be done by the Office of Coordination of Economic Affairs of the Governor.
Original Article
siamak kheybari; Amir Bokaeyan; S. Ali Naji .N. Y
Articles in Press, In Progress, Available Online from 10 August 2020
Abstract
Among various products available in agriculture, saffron plays a major role in contributing to Iran's gross domestic product and per capita income growth. Due to shortage of workforce and short duration of harvesting, areas under cultivation of saffron in Iran will be declining in coming years. Thus, ...
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Among various products available in agriculture, saffron plays a major role in contributing to Iran's gross domestic product and per capita income growth. Due to shortage of workforce and short duration of harvesting, areas under cultivation of saffron in Iran will be declining in coming years. Thus, proper planning for optimum use of work force is one of the most important techniques to access efficient harvesting. In this regard, an integer programming model is proposed to solve the problem in this paper. Number of working shift and working hours in each shift were among decision variables in the proposed model, which satisfy the goal, i.e. minimizing the total cost of workforce, with constrains including number of working hours in each shift, speed of work, number of fields that should be harvested in each day and relationship between working hours of each worker and the cost allocated. To evaluate the proposed model, information was obtained about fields located in different areas of Qaen City, South Khorasan, Iran. By comparing the output of the proposed model to the real situation, the ability of the model was confirmed. Based on the results provided in this study, the amount of harvested saffron with minimum workforce increased. Finally, concluding remarks and suggestions for future research were provided.
Original Article
Khoshghadam Khaledi
Articles in Press, In Progress, Available Online from 10 August 2020
Abstract
Teaching practices in universities have not achieved expected outcomes. There are a lot of challenges in education process, one of them is mismatching between learning/teaching styles. Teachers should strive to incorporate their teaching style with students’ learning style in order to ensure effective ...
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Teaching practices in universities have not achieved expected outcomes. There are a lot of challenges in education process, one of them is mismatching between learning/teaching styles. Teachers should strive to incorporate their teaching style with students’ learning style in order to ensure effective teaching and learning process in higher education. The purpose of this descriptive-survey study was to explain compatibility of students’ learning style using Witkins (1976) Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and teachers’ teaching style using Van Tillburg Hamilich Test (1990). The target population consisted of students and faculty members in agricultural College in Razi University. Results revealed that, 40.6 % of male were field dependent and 59.4 % of them were field independent. 78.6 % of female were field dependent and 21.4 % of them were field independent. Therefore the majority of male were field-independent and the majority of female were field-dependent learners. With attention to four teaching style (Expert, Provider, Facilitator and Enabler) instructors tended to be using enabler teaching style. Recommendations about matching learning and teaching styles are suggested based on the results.
Original Article
Hamid Karimi; Latif Haji; Naser Valizadeh
Articles in Press, In Progress, Available Online from 10 August 2020
Abstract
Job performance is considered one of the most important criteria for developing and measuring the performance of organizations such as the Agricultural Jihad Organization (AJO). The main purpose of the present study was to study the effects of leadership styles on job performance through the mediating ...
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Job performance is considered one of the most important criteria for developing and measuring the performance of organizations such as the Agricultural Jihad Organization (AJO). The main purpose of the present study was to study the effects of leadership styles on job performance through the mediating role of psychological empowerment. The statistical population was composed of the experts of AJO in Kerman province (N=1418). The sample size was estimated to be 306 experts according to Krejcie and Morgan’s sampling table. The stratified random sampling method was used to select the samples. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts in the field of agricultural extension, education, and management. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was employed to examine the reliability of the constructs (0.76≤α≤0.93). The results revealed that the psychological empowerment and the transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles had significant effects on job performance. The transformational and transactional leadership styles also had positive and significant effects on psychological empowerment. On the other hand, the laissez-faire leadership style had a negative and significant effect on psychological empowerment. In the end, it should be noted that the independent variables could account for 63 percent of the variance in job performance.
Original Article
Roya Sharifi; Bahram Kheiri; yalda Rahmati Ghofrani
Articles in Press, In Progress, Available Online from 23 August 2020
Abstract
Organic products with a positive impact on health and the environment in the future would establish a new way of thinking about the relationship between food, health, and nature in human life. Therefore, it is important to examine the key factors that may affect the consumer’s mind to purchase ...
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Organic products with a positive impact on health and the environment in the future would establish a new way of thinking about the relationship between food, health, and nature in human life. Therefore, it is important to examine the key factors that may affect the consumer’s mind to purchase organic food products. The objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the actual behavior of buyers of organic products. This study is applied research in terms of objective and is a descriptive-survey in terms of implementation. The method used for data collection was field, and questionnaire was considered as a tool for data collection. The statistical population of this study included the consumers of organic products in Gilan province (Iran). Due to the unlimited sampling, 384 samples were obtained. The convenience random sampling method was used to distribute the questionnaires. Model evaluation and testing of hypotheses were performed by structural equation modeling using Smart PLS software. The research findings demonstrated that perceived price, health consciousness, availability, organic knowledge, and subjective norms were the key determinants of organic buying behavior and showed a significant positive impact with consumer attitudes. Consumer attitudes also influenced purchase intention and purchase intention on actual buying behavior. In addition, the results showed that preparing a brochure introducing organic products and providing the results of studies on organic products to buyers and forming environmentally friendly groups and associations can change the attitude of buyers.
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