Sustainable agricultural and rural development requires knowledge and information, skills, attitudes and technologies, which run through a network of actors to produce, distribute and use it in a particular place. The model of the Agriculture Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) is designed based on this recognition. In Iran, There are about decades of experience in the development of this system. The purpose of this Delphi study was to develop a listing of those challenges facing Iran's Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS). Panel of experts consisted of extension offices, natural-level researchers, faculty members of Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), and university faculty in agricultural extension and education. The panel identified 86 challenges of AKIS in Iran that were classified into 8 categories consisting of Participatory-institutional, Policy-legal, Information broadcasting-communicational, Monitoring and evaluation, Actors competency, supportive-motivational, management-structural and infrastructure-environmental. پرونده مقاله

The main purpose of this survey was to assess biomass production and use as a source of energy by smallholders in Tafresh County located in Markazi Province, Iran. A descriptive survey method was used for data collection. The statistical population consisted of 2,470 smallholders. A sample size of 300 was selected by using the stratified random sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. The Cronbach alpha's coefficient was higher than 0.75 for the main scales of the questionnaire. The results showed that the residues of plants and animals are recognized as a potential source of renewable energy, but there exists no specific policy or technical instruction for their optimal use, particularly in organizations such as Agriculture Jihad. Therefore, many farmers burn a considerable amount of firewood without being aware of its potential use. Findings revealed that “diversification of productive activities” had the greatest influence on the use of biomass energy, and the variables “annual cost of gas at home” and “animal farming experience” were ranked the 2nd and 3rd most important factors influencing the dependent variable, respectively. پرونده مقاله