Energy carriers are one of the most important inputs in the agricultural sector. These inputs have been the foundation of the development and transition of the agricultural sector from the traditional stage to the industrial stage. The energy per capita marginal consumption in Iran’s agricultural sector is 3.2 times greater than its global average. Therefore, it is essential to save and optimally use energy carriers in this sector. Price liberalization is known as the most important pricing tool. The present study analyzes the effect of the prices of energy carriers on the productivity of their consumption in the agricultural sector by using the hidden cointegration method. The results show that the productivity of electricity and oil products display an asymmetric behavior in response to energy price variations so that electricity productivity decreases by 1145.04 units as the prices of electricity carriers rise and increases by 1254.32 units when the prices of electricity decrease. Also, when the price of oil products increases, productivity shows an increase of 22.18 units. In addition, the productivity of oil product carriers is improved by increasing their prices. Therefore, price correction is inevitable in the energy carrier sector. Given the asymmetric effect of the price of electricity on its productivity, the type of electricity price correction process should be considered along with non-price policies. The pricing tool only provides an incentive for productivity growth through the substitution of production factors. Given these conditions, if there is no economic structure and facilities to improve productivity, it cannot be expected that the pattern of energy consumption is corrected. تفاصيل المقالة

The viability and efficiency of crop insurance policies depend on farmers’ demand and willingness for crop insurance. The present study analyzes the insurance demand of 441 date farmers in the Saravan region. Data showed that 68.87 percent of the farmers did not agree with insurance. The results of the ordinal logit model at five different levels indicated that awareness of insurance benefits, insurance record, previous-year yield, and educational level, the standard deviation of income, orchard area, and satisfaction with insurance services were the main variables influencing the demand for insurance. The coefficient of variation of the likelihood of insurance adoption was estimated at all five levels. A 1percent increase in satisfaction with insurance services increases the likelihood of a person’s shift from the ‘strongly disagree’ category to the ‘disagree’ category by 6.3 percent. Older date farmers abstain from insurance adoption, which needs reflection given the religious view in the region on interest rates on the one hand and the resistance of older people against modern risk management methods on the other. تفاصيل المقالة