Effect of the Olive Value Chain on the Assets of Olive Orchard Owners in Rudbar County: the Application of Sustainable Livelihood Approach

Subject Areas : Education and training

Shahaboldin Shokri ¹ , Yazdan Habibi ² , Seyyed Mehdi Mirdamadi ³

1 - Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran
2 - Department of Agricultural Development, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Agricultural Development, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2022-02-08 Accepted : 2023-02-25 Published : 2023-12-01

Keywords: "sustainable livelihood", "livelihood assets", "value chain", "Rudbar County",

Abstract :

This descriptive-analytical research aimed to investigate the effects of the olive value chain on the assets of olive orchard owners in Rudbar County with the sustainable livelihood approach by the library and field method using a questionnaire. The content and face validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by a panel of experts after revision, and its general reliability was estimated at 0.97 by Cronbach’s alpha. The study site was Rudbar County. The statistical population was composed of 5053 olive orchard owners out of whom 604 people were sampled based on Bartlett’s table. Data were analyzed using the SPSS and LISREL software packages. According to the applied LISREL, the main findings were as follows: P-VALUE =0.000001, NNFI=0.907, CFI=0.910, RMSEA=0.036 and X^2/df =1.51, IFI =0.910 and PGFI =0.768. Results revealed that out of these five resources, social capital was the strongest one affecting respondents’ livelihoods in the study area (λ=1.02). The results revealed that the fit of the measurement model is appropriate and acceptable. Also, it can be said that capital assets influence livelihood outcomes significantly and positively, so the livelihood level will increase with increasing capital assets.