Environmental policy and management
Fereshteh Faraji; Farahnaz Rostami; Nader Naderi; Shahab Khoshkhooi
Volume 9, Issue 3 , Summer 2019, , Pages 213-227
Abstract
The high capacity of the agricultural sector in Kermanshah Province needs more attention for some reasons including weather and climate conditions, access to fertile lands, and ready-made labor force. The current research seeks to achieve a major strategy for the development of entrepreneurship activities ...
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The high capacity of the agricultural sector in Kermanshah Province needs more attention for some reasons including weather and climate conditions, access to fertile lands, and ready-made labor force. The current research seeks to achieve a major strategy for the development of entrepreneurship activities in the agricultural sector of Kermanshah Province. To reach end a mixed research method was used in which the content analysis and survey methods were used in the qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively. The content analysis and “Analysis of Hierarchy Process (AHP) were applied by using Expert Choice software for data analysis. In the quantitative part, the study population was comprised of agricultural entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province, of which 27 participated in semi-structured interviews. In the quantitative part, a pairwise comparison questionnaire was administered to 10 entrepreneurs who were entrepreneurship experts. Based on the results obtained from the current research, the development strategy, namely “regional market development, paving the way for the development of entrepreneurial companies, and presentation of products fabricated by agricultural entrepreneurs in Kermanshah Province in regional, national, and international exhibitions”, was chosen as the best conservative strategy with the final priority of 0.347. In addition, another strategy, i.e. “the formulation of policies and establishment of appropriate support platforms for agricultural entrepreneurs by the state and organizations, such as subsidizing producers and providing facilities to entrepreneurs to facilitate access to suitable land for their activities”, with the final priority of 0.270% was chosen as the alternative strategy for the development of entrepreneurial activities in Kermanshah province.
Environmental policy and management
Hamid El Bilali
Volume 8, Issue 2 , Spring 2018, , Pages 201-218
Abstract
Innovation is a complex phenomenon and process involving translation of knowledge into new techniques, products, services. It is considered crucial for sustainable agriculture development and achievement of long-term food security. The review describes the diversity of innovation and relates it to agro-food ...
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Innovation is a complex phenomenon and process involving translation of knowledge into new techniques, products, services. It is considered crucial for sustainable agriculture development and achievement of long-term food security. The review describes the diversity of innovation and relates it to agro-food sector. It also sheds light on different innovation models and explores their contribution to framing agro-food sustainability transitions. There are many variations in the use of the term ‘innovation’. Typical distinctions encountered in the literature are incremental vs. radical innovation and product vs. process vs. organizational innovation. A significant feature of the development of modern innovation thinking has been a gradual broadening of innovation scope as well as more attention to sustainability. The scope of innovation was broadened to include soft (social/organisation) innovations besides hard/technical ones. In fact, the interest has shifted from technological innovation to disruptive niche innovations fundamental for socio-technical transitions. Moreover, as a recognition of system complexity, frameworks such as the Innovation systems and the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) were developed and promoted. However, despite positive innovation benefits, relationship between innovation and sustainability in the agro-food arena is far from straightforward. Therefore, focus is gradually moving from innovation process to its impacts in terms of sustainability and its contribution to sustainability transitions in agriculture and food systems.
Environmental policy and management
Nashmil Afsharzade; Abdolhamid Papzan; Sohrab Delangizan; Mehdi Ashjaee
Volume 6, Issue 2 , Spring 2016, , Pages 217-224
Abstract
This paper focuses on the amount of diesel consumption as one of the non-renewable energy sources consumed by the agricultural machinery and water pumps in wheat and corn farms in Dire County,Kermanshah Province, Iran. The population of the study was determined by Bartlett table. Stratified random sampling ...
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This paper focuses on the amount of diesel consumption as one of the non-renewable energy sources consumed by the agricultural machinery and water pumps in wheat and corn farms in Dire County,Kermanshah Province, Iran. The population of the study was determined by Bartlett table. Stratified random sampling method and census was used for the selection of respondents. The sample was composed of 247 wheat growers, 235 corn growers, and 57 tractor drivers selected by Bartlett’s table. Combine drivers as well as farm irrigation diesel owners were selected by census (N=15, N=48, respectively). The data collection tool was a questionnaire and the data were analyzed by SPSS software package. The findings revealed that in wheat farms, soil preparation had the highest consumption of diesel by 49% and in corn farms inter culturing had the highest diesel consumption by 38%. Moreover, the amount of diesel consumed in 3600 ha wheat and a corn farm in Dire County was 403,852.6 lit/year equivalent to 15,346,399 MJ. Burning this amount of diesel produces about 1, 058,094 kg CO2/year. Overall, farm machinery, water pumping and irrigation for two major crops in the county are extremely reliant on nonrenewable fossil fuel resulting in large amount of CO2 emission. Hence, an aggressive and innovative policy is required to restructure and redesign energy system in agriculture sector at national and local levels. Finally, it seems that paradigm shift to sustainable agriculture and development of clean and renewable energy in Iran's agricultural sector is unavoidable.
Amir Ahmadpour
Volume 6, Issue 1 , Winter 2016, , Pages 81-91
Abstract
One of the central duties of rural production cooperatives is to promote the adoption and application of sustainable agricultural practices by farmers, which hinges on several factors. Therefore, the study intends to evaluate the factors influencing the application of sustainable agricultural practices ...
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One of the central duties of rural production cooperatives is to promote the adoption and application of sustainable agricultural practices by farmers, which hinges on several factors. Therefore, the study intends to evaluate the factors influencing the application of sustainable agricultural practices by paddy farmers. The research population included from all includes all paddy farmers as members of the production cooperatives in rural areas of Sari County, Iran (N=4160). A total of 162 farmers were selected through stratified sampling technique. The data was gathered through questionnaires, that its face validity was verified by a panel of experts, and its reliability was obtained through a pilot test (Alpha Cronbach coefficient, 0.93). The results showed that the application of sustainable agricultural practices was generally good. Moreover, the findings showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the age, using information sources, family members, cultivating area, production amount, social status, access to inputs, participating in extension training courses and economic factors with the application of sustainable agricultural practices. The stepwise linear regression analysis results showed that the variables of cultivating area/hectare, economic facilities, participating in extension training courses and age can determine 61.8% variation of the application of sustainable agricultural practices by paddy farmers as members of rural production cooperatives.
Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand; Shahryar Sobhe Zahedi
Volume 5, Issue 4 , Autumn 2015, , Pages 305-312
Abstract
An important factor in sustainable agriculture and economic management is to calculate areas under different crops that the inputs of agriculture connect to this topic. Planning of agricultural mechanization, fertilizer and pesticide requirements, pests and diseases control, estimates of agricultural ...
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An important factor in sustainable agriculture and economic management is to calculate areas under different crops that the inputs of agriculture connect to this topic. Planning of agricultural mechanization, fertilizer and pesticide requirements, pests and diseases control, estimates of agricultural production, income and tax and financial planning, all linked to the cultivated areas and estimation of agricultural products. One of the problems in the agricultural section of Iran is the lack of accurate statistics of cultivated crops areas that this is much higher for horticultural products. Over time, it varies the area of land under cultivated crop, and orchards and bare lands; consequently the estimation of yield is not done as well due to these changes caused some problems in planning and management. Land Surveying is time-consuming and expensive, while mapping farms and orchards lands through classified satellite images is a high speed and low cost way. Nowadays, the satellite image processing techniques have developed for the estimation of crops, pest control, agricultural macro planning and preparing updated maps. A principal problem is the interference of plants spectral reflections that different methods have been proposed by researchers to differentiate vegetation on satellite images. At this paper, remote sensing imagery in mapping vegetation or various plants are investigated.
Shaghayegh Kheiri
Abstract
Conventional agriculture systems of production often lead to environmental degradation, economic problems and even social conflict. The efficacy of agriculture systems conducive to the economic, environmental and social sustainability of farming operations has been demonstrated, yet the adoption of sustainable ...
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Conventional agriculture systems of production often lead to environmental degradation, economic problems and even social conflict. The efficacy of agriculture systems conducive to the economic, environmental and social sustainability of farming operations has been demonstrated, yet the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is not widespread. This study evaluates the barriers of sustainable agriculture by wheat farmers in Takestan using a descriptive–correlation survey methodology. This quantitative study was based on a Researcher made questionnaire designed to elicit the barriers to adoption of sustainable agriculture practices perceived by a sample of 149 wheat farmers in the Takestan (N=268), through a stratified random sampling technique. Instrument validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability estimated by Cronbach’s coefficient (α=0.905). The data has been analyzed using the SPSS (16). The results revealed that the high cost of sustainable agriculture was the most important barriers in its implementation (M=4.74). The findings of multiple regressions explained that farmer’s attitudes and practices of sustainable agriculture explained 89 percent of the variance of the barriers of sustainable agriculture. Farmer’s attitudes had the most influence on the determination of the barriers of sustainable agriculture (β=0.775).
Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand; Mohammad Sadegh Allahyari; Zahra Daghighi Masuleh
Volume 4, Issue 1 , Winter 2014, , Pages 73-79
Abstract
In recent years, agriculture has become the prime polluter of natural resources. It is therefore essential to make assessments based on reliable indicators to ensure that an agricultural system remains not only productive, but also ecologically sound. A large area of arable land in Guilan province is ...
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In recent years, agriculture has become the prime polluter of natural resources. It is therefore essential to make assessments based on reliable indicators to ensure that an agricultural system remains not only productive, but also ecologically sound. A large area of arable land in Guilan province is devoted to rice cultivation so the transition to environmentally sound agricultural practice in paddy fields of the province is an important strategy. The main purpose of this study was to present a new and comprehensive framework for assessing environmentally sound agricultural practice applicable to the paddy fields in Guilan Province. A review of the relevant literature identified environmentally sound indicators that had been used by researchers in recent years. Then some parameters were introduced for examination and prioritization. The proposed structural model includes seven factors and 21 indicators. The target population included university faculty members and researchers who were familiar with the concepts of agricultural sustainability and that were familiar with the Guilan paddy fields. A structural on-line questionnaire was the main instrument used to gather information. Based on experts’ points of view, the coefficient of significance for each of the selected indicators was measured using the Yager fuzzy screening method. The results obtained from structured questionnaires showed that 20 of the 21 indicators were appropriate for assessing environmentally sustainable agriculture.
