Original Article
Habibollah Rezadoost; Alireza Estelaji; Majid Vali Shariat Panahi
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020, Pages 323-332
Abstract
The present descriptive survey aims to analyze sustainable rural livelihood in Langarud County of Guilan province, Iran. The statistical population was composed of all rural people in this county (N=37904). Convenience sampling used to determine sample size (n=180). They were selected by proportionally ...
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The present descriptive survey aims to analyze sustainable rural livelihood in Langarud County of Guilan province, Iran. The statistical population was composed of all rural people in this county (N=37904). Convenience sampling used to determine sample size (n=180). They were selected by proportionally allocated random sampling method. The research instrument was a self-designed questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha to be 0.76, implying its reliability. Results showed that among five capitals of sustainable livelihood, social, human, physical, natural and financial capitals were ranked from the first to fifth, respectively. Accordingly, rural people were in the best condition in terms of social capital compared to other capitals. Concerning the level of sustainable livelihood capitals, it is recommended that rural development policies should spur livelihood diversification as a core strategy. In addition, attempts should be made to enhance rural people’s awareness of what they have and to change their attitude towards what they feel in their life and/or they see in nature.
Original Article
Hossein Ali Soltani; Elham Khajehpour
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020, Pages 333-346
Abstract
Environmental sustainability is one of the most important considerations in planning and managing agriculture in any country nowadays. Agriculture plays an important role in Afghanistan's economy and employment. Herat province is rich in agricultural production in Afghanistan. To achieve environmental ...
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Environmental sustainability is one of the most important considerations in planning and managing agriculture in any country nowadays. Agriculture plays an important role in Afghanistan's economy and employment. Herat province is rich in agricultural production in Afghanistan. To achieve environmental sustainability along with profitability, the present research aimed to develop an optimal cropping pattern for Afghanistan with environmental considerations. The crops studied include wheat, barley, sesame, cumin, and saffron, which accounted for more than 70 percent of the cropping area in Herat province. The goal and linear programming model were used to determine the optimal cropping pattern. The goals of reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides along with maximizing gross margins were used in the goal model with the aim of achieving environmental sustainability. The results of the linear model, aimed at maximizing gross margins, showed that in the optimal pattern of the region, the cultivated area of sesame, barley, and saffron should be increased and the cultivated area of wheat and cumin should be decreased versus the status quo. In addition, the results of goal models in different scenarios showed significant changes in comparison to the current cropping pattern.
Original Article
Mehdi Nooripoor; Zeinab Sharifi
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020, Pages 347-359
Abstract
The qualitative expansion of the higher education system, regardless of quality development, will have inappropriate outcomes. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the quality of academic services at Yasouj University using the SERVQUAL model. The statistical population consisted of 508 ...
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The qualitative expansion of the higher education system, regardless of quality development, will have inappropriate outcomes. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the quality of academic services at Yasouj University using the SERVQUAL model. The statistical population consisted of 508 senior undergraduates at Yasouj University in 2018-2019. According to the Krejcie and Morgan formula, 220 individuals were selected as the sample through stratified random sampling in terms of their field of study. Data were collected through a two-part questionnaire including students' perceptions and expectations about the quality of educational, research, and welfare services. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by using the opinions of the relevant field experts after revising, and its reliability was estimated by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed that students had the lowest and highest satisfaction with the current status in terms of welfare services and educational services, respectively. Also, the greatest service gap was in welfare, research, and educational services, respectively. The results of the means comparison test revealed that the students' expectations of educational, research, and welfare services were significantly higher than their perceptions. Therefore, better provision of educational, research, and welfare services should be taken into consideration by the relevant authorities.
Original Article
Shamsollah Abdollahpour; Armaghan Kosari-Moghaddam; Mohammad Bannayan
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020
Abstract
This study aimed to assess the environmental sustainability of wheat harvesting operation in rainfed and irrigated farming systems in three different locations in Iran, including Sari, Mashhad and Parsabad Moghan counties. Four sustainability indices of energy, emergy, exergy, and greenhouse gas emissions ...
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This study aimed to assess the environmental sustainability of wheat harvesting operation in rainfed and irrigated farming systems in three different locations in Iran, including Sari, Mashhad and Parsabad Moghan counties. Four sustainability indices of energy, emergy, exergy, and greenhouse gas emissions were investigated in this research. Results revealed that the energy efficiency of harvesting operation in irrigated systems was higher than that in rainfed systems. The emergy analysis results highlighted that the environmental sustainability indices for rainfed systems in Mashhad, Parsabad Moghan, and Sari were 0.047, 0.035 and 0.034, respectively. The values for the irrigated systems were 0.036, 0.035 and 0.034, respectively. The results of exergy analysis also indicated that the exergy efficiency of harvesting operation in rainfed and irrigated systems in Sari and Parsabad Moghan was higher than that in other areas by 56.07 and 128.72, respectively. Total GHG emissions of harvesting operation in Sari, Parsabad Moghan, and Mashhad in rainfed systems were determined to be lower than that in the irrigated systems (54.88, 47.64 and 36.03 kg CO2eq ha-1 versus 67.52, 66.56 and 59.22 kg CO2eq ha-1, respectively). In conclusion, the wheat harvesting system was environmentally more sustainable in Sari and Parsabad Moghan counties in rainfed and irrigated farming systems, respectively.
Original Article
Zeynab Latifi; Hossein Shabanali Fami
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020
Abstract
Khuzestan Province, especially Karun County, is one of the main pillars of date production in Iran. According to the limitations of date palm production in this county, optimal production management, and the efficient use of production inputs are required. The main goal of this study was to calculate ...
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Khuzestan Province, especially Karun County, is one of the main pillars of date production in Iran. According to the limitations of date palm production in this county, optimal production management, and the efficient use of production inputs are required. The main goal of this study was to calculate the technical efficiency of date palm cultivators’ management in the whole Karun, as well as the cities in this County including four cities, using a non-parametric approach such as the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. 200 date palm cultivators were selected as samples across the region, 50 date palm cultivators from each city in April 2017 till February 2018. The results showed that Rabie and Shirin-Shahr cities have the most efficient and non-efficient date palm cultivators’ management, respectively. The average efficiency under constant returns to scale assumption was 100 percent, the variable returns to scale input-oriented and output-oriented in Rabie city were 100 and 100 percent, and in Shirin-Shahr city, the average efficiency under constant returns to scale was 97.56 percent, the variable returns to scale input-oriented and output-oriented were 98.69 and 98.04 percent, respectively. In Karun County, the average efficiency under constant returns to scale was 96.62 percent, the variable returns to scale input-oriented and output-oriented efficiencies were 98.66 and 97.57 percent, respectively. In this region, cultivators’ management efficiency can be increased by increasing the awareness and skills of date palm cultivators and educating them in terms of optimal use of inputs.
Original Article
Fatemeh Alipour Mobaraki; Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand; Ali Aalami; Mahmoud Shabanpour Shahrestani
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020
Abstract
Agricultural wastes and their management is one of the important issues in agriculture which in most cases, farmers find it easy to dispose of them by burning. I In order to investigate the effects of burning the crop residues on some physical properties of the soil and rice yield, pests, diseases and ...
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Agricultural wastes and their management is one of the important issues in agriculture which in most cases, farmers find it easy to dispose of them by burning. I In order to investigate the effects of burning the crop residues on some physical properties of the soil and rice yield, pests, diseases and common weeds in the province, 1800 m land plot (including 18 plots of 10 × 10 m2) was selected. The experiment was carried out in a factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments consisted of different tillage methods (non-plowing, autumn plowing and winter plowing), and management of crop residues (residues burning and residues conservation). The results showed that residues conservation with plowing led to an increase in the amount of organic matter by 51.0%, which before the implementation of the treatments was 2.18% and after applying the treatments showed 2.69%.According to the results, the rate of emergence of rice stem borer pest in burning of residues treatment with non-tillage treatment with a value of 2.66% showed more significant effect in compare with residues burning treatment and plowing in autumn and winter with a value of 0.66%. Applying treatments also had a significant effect on weed populations and its amount was 2.87% for burning treatment and 1.88% for residues conservation and led to decrease of weed populations. Residues conservation, along with tillage, also had a significant effect on the yield and resulted in an increase in 1000-grain weight.
Original Article
ronak kakehazar; Hossein Agahi; shahpar Geravandi
Volume 10, Issue 4 , Autumn 2020
Abstract
Over 90% of western past of Iran agrarian system is family farming. Thus rural people in this area are dependent on agricultural resources, pastoral system and nonfarm activity for their livelihood. This has created heightened vulnerability to climate change. Therefore, this study attends to measure ...
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Over 90% of western past of Iran agrarian system is family farming. Thus rural people in this area are dependent on agricultural resources, pastoral system and nonfarm activity for their livelihood. This has created heightened vulnerability to climate change. Therefore, this study attends to measure livelihood resilience to climate change in Mahidasht. For this purpose, cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in 2018. Using Kerjcie & Morgan table of sample size 338 wheat farmer, who selected using systematic sampling. The instrument developed by Ifejika Speranza module was translated into Persian language. Result revealed that capacity for learning was improved compared to other components’ livelihood resilience. While, less than half of all participants (44.51) don’t have adequate self-organization. Finally, we discuss some possible solutions and some propositions which will be studied in future works.
