Agricultural Extension and Education Research: 2 (2)

Open Access Article

1 - Experiences of Agricultural Experts and Farmers to Identifying and Prioritizing Farmers’ Information Resources of Kermanshah County villages
Shapour Zarifian Mohammad Reza Esmaili Matin Hossein Raheli Mohammad Bagher Alizade Aghdam

Acquaintance with information resources considered as a sustainable development tool for villages in order to raise awareness, reduce information gap and increase efficiency of villagers. The main purpose of this research is to identify the information sources of farmer More

Acquaintance with information resources considered as a sustainable development tool for villages in order to raise awareness, reduce information gap and increase efficiency of villagers. The main purpose of this research is to identify the information sources of farmers in the villages of Kermanshah. The research method is qualitative and is done with the phenomenological approach on agricultural experts and farmers in the summer of 1396 in order to identify information sources using deep open and semi-structured interviews. In order to prioritize the information resources of the farmers, they were targeted by sampling and data saturation, with the confidentiality of information and the ability to leave the study at any time. By analyzing and integrating the main components, four main components were identified and 22 sub-components were extracted and used for AHP ranking. The results showed that the incompatibility rate was less than 0.1. So there is compatibility in the pair comparison. Therefore, all elements have a good and acceptable weight. The result was that based on the calculations carried out and the amount of their accuracy, it was determined that among the main factors of information resources, holding educational classes with a weight of 0.14 is in the first place and the use of websites with the weight of 0.007 is in the last place. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - Designing the Sustainability Model of Agricultural Small and Medium-Size Businesses in Kermanshah Province
leila sharafi Roohollah Rezaei Ali Asghar Mirakzadeh Esmaeel Karamidehkordi

This qualitative study was carried out with aim to design the model of sustainability of agricultural small and medium-sized businesses in Kermanshah province. The statistical population of this study consisted of the experts and key informants in Kermanshah province of More

This qualitative study was carried out with aim to design the model of sustainability of agricultural small and medium-sized businesses in Kermanshah province. The statistical population of this study consisted of the experts and key informants in Kermanshah province of which 20 persons were selected using the purposive sampling method and snowball technique. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The data collection process was continued until reaching theoretical saturation or usefulness threshold of available information. The software of MAXQDA 11 was used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that the main dimensions of the sustainability of agricultural small and medium-sized businesses were economic sustainability (including financial performance, self-reliance and financial independence, customer and market performance, and innovation and business development), social sustainability (including social communications and interactions, social responsibility and mutual social trust) and environmental sustainability (including sustainable and healthy production, conservation and optimal utilization of environmental resources and waste management). Additionally, the results of the study indicated that the main factors affecting the sustainability of agricultural small and medium-sized businesses in Kermanshah province were intra-organizational factors (including family and personal factors of the manager, marketing factors, economic-financial factors, production factors and product characteristics, factors related to business characteristics and communication and information factors) and extra-organizational factors (including political-legal, infrastructural-supportive and factors related to extension interventions). Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - Factors Affecting Farmers’ Satisfaction with New Irrigation Systems in Behbehan Township
Davoud Rouzaneh Masoud Yazdanpanah Masoumeh Forouzani Arman Bakhshi jahromi

Water is the major limiting factor for agriculture in an arid and semi-arid region. Demand for available water resources is fast and the competition among the various sectors of the economy for the scarce water is becoming intense. In response to these conditions, pursu More

Water is the major limiting factor for agriculture in an arid and semi-arid region. Demand for available water resources is fast and the competition among the various sectors of the economy for the scarce water is becoming intense. In response to these conditions, pursuing various innovative technical, institutional and policy interventions to enable the efficient, equitable and sustainable utilization of the scarce water resources. In this regard, many governments introduce new irrigation systems to address water shortage in their agriculture sectors. However, the success of such policy completely depend on farmers’ adoption and this, in turn, depends on farmers’ satisfaction.  In light of these facts, the aim of this paper is to investigate and measure farmers' satisfaction with a new irrigation system that ultimately leads to a better understanding of why farmers adopt or reject new irrigation system. To achieve these goals, the survey method is applied as a research method. The statistical populations were farmers who adopted the new irrigation system in Behbehan Township in Khuzestan province in southern Iran. Data were collected using a researcher made questionnaire. Validity questionnaires were approved by a panel of expert and its reliability was approved by a pilot study (0.81-0.94). Structural equation modeling showed that farmers’ satisfaction mainly was determined by value followed by perceived quality. The findings yield public policy and marketing recommendations for stimulating the adoption of new irrigation systems among farmers. The findings yield public policy and marketing recommendations for stimulating the adoption of new irrigation systems among farmers. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - Designing a Model for Economic Empowerment of Female Heads of Households in Ilam Province
masomeh jamshidi Hossein Mehdizadeh

Female head of household as the poorest person is one of the most vulnerable sectors of society, accounting for a significant percentage of the population. They are particularly important in development planning because of the role and importance of family livelihoods. More

Female head of household as the poorest person is one of the most vulnerable sectors of society, accounting for a significant percentage of the population. They are particularly important in development planning because of the role and importance of family livelihoods. Empowerment and promotion of the quantitative and qualitative level of their lives can provide grounds for poverty reduction, reduction of gender inequality, expansion of economic independence of households, and so on. The purpose of this study was to design a model of economic empowerment of women Heads of Households in Ilam province, using a case study method. The statistical population of the study is experts in the field of empowerment of women in different departments and organizations of the province. Using theoretical sampling, 28 experts were selected and the data were extracted through in-depth interviews with the aforementioned experts to achieve theoretical saturation. To analyze the obtained qualitative information, the grounded theory method has been used. The results showed that 43 concepts were obtained through open encoding, 7 axial categories by axial encoding and a nuclear category through selective encoding. The results also showed that the experts identified the new semantic of the economic empowerment of female headed households is in modifying and changing the traditional model of women's empowerment, and moving towards the completion of the value chain and identifying the underlying circles in order to achieve a new plan for the organization of home-based job and entrepreneurship Families, specially female heads of households. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - Explaining the Distinctive Professional Competencies Performance of Greenhouse Managers Production units in Southern Khorasan Province
Mohammad Motamedi Koroush roosta Asadullah Zamanipour Malihe Falaki

Present study conducted with the aim of explaining the distinctive Professional competencies performance of managers in greenhouse production units in Southern Khorasan. The research method was applied in terms of purpose, and descriptive-correlational in terms of colle More

Present study conducted with the aim of explaining the distinctive Professional competencies performance of managers in greenhouse production units in Southern Khorasan. The research method was applied in terms of purpose, and descriptive-correlational in terms of collecting data. The study was conducted through the survey method. The statistical population of the study was 141 greenhouse owners from greenhouse cucumber production Units who were selected through the census method due to the limited statistical population. The instrument used for collecting data in this study was a questionnaire. At the time of research, 117 active greenhouses and information were collected and the statistical analysis was using of the discriminant analysis. The results of the analysis showed that out of the 23 independent variables examined, only 8 variables including observing the technical principles of growing operation, observing ethical beliefs, observing managerial competencies, observing the basic/generic competencies, the method of preparing the planting bed, the number of extension-training courses, the method of preparing the terrace and the planting operation, and the experience in greenhouse cultivation could maximally differ between successful and unsuccessful managers of greenhouse cucumber production Units in order of priority based on focal correlation coefficient.Explaining the Distinctive Professional Competencies Performance of Greenhouse Managers Production units in Southern Khorasan Province Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - Application of fuzzy topsis method to determine the rural development level (The Case study of villages in Islamshahr city)
Sahar Dehyiuri Amir Mehrabi

Rural areas play an important role in the world economy for a long time, due to the wide range of food and raw materials, which is especially important in developing countries. Rural development is also an important part of regional policy covering agriculture, forestry More

Rural areas play an important role in the world economy for a long time, due to the wide range of food and raw materials, which is especially important in developing countries. Rural development is also an important part of regional policy covering agriculture, forestry, natural resource management, land use, and economic diversification in rural communities. Selection and leveling of villages developed is one of the most important steps in the successful planning of rural development and overall success, especially in developing countries. This article is based on a fuzzy term of technique or order preference, which is similar to the ideal method (TOPSIS). The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy TOPSIS approach to improve the quality of decision making to determine the level of development in the city of Islamshahr. In this research, the level of credit and score of rural development levels was done using Fuzzy-TOPSIS technique among villages in Islamshahr city. The results show that the Fuzzy-TOPSIS method is useful for deciding on the choice of developmental level, and the proposed system can provide accurate and reliable results. Manuscript profile

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