Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food

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    Item type:Publication,
    Training Needs Assessment: The Case of Female Rice Farmers in Northern Iran
    (MDPI AG, 2022-03-10)
    Goli, Imaneh
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    Azadi, Hossein
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    Miceikienė, Astrida
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    Tanaskovik, Vjekoslav
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    Stamenkovska, Ivana Janeska
    <jats:p>An appraisal of training requirements responds to the issue of why training is needed and gives some assurance that the services needed to establish and conduct training can achieve the required outcomes based on performance. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the educational needs of female rice farmers in Sari (the capital of Mazandaran province located in Northern Iran). This study adopted a descriptive-correlational approach consisting of 1677 female rice farmers in Sari in 2013–2015. Finally, 240 respondents were selected and examined using Cochran’s formula and through stratified sampling with proportional assignment. The results of multivariate stepwise regression indicated that the level of participation (−0.488), the importance of economic factors (0.369), the number of training courses (−0.284), and marital status (−0.179) of female rice farmers were effective on the training needs level. According to the findings, training programs should take into account the educational needs of female rice farmers in order to gain the necessary expertise and skills in new methods and transfer them to other farmers.</jats:p>
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    Importance of good groundwater governance in economic development: The case of western Iran
    (Elsevier BV, 2023-05)
    Sarami-Foroushani, Taraneh
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    Balali, Hamid
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    Movahedi, Reza
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    Kurban, Alishir
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    Värnik, Rando
    Over the previous half century, increased groundwater mining has had significant social and economic implications that are still going on. Many solutions and frameworks have been proposed in the world to overcome these problems. In this study, we attempted to analyze the conditions of Hamedan-Bahar plain in terms of groundwater governance (GG). The groundwater governance indicators were evaluated using the Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). In general, the status of the groundwater governance (GG) indicators in the region shows that these indicators are all lower than the standard level and are not in good condition. Based on the results, the constructs of policy-making (β = 0.867), information and data (β = 0.866), and stakeholder engagement (β = 0.859) had the greatest effect on the latent variable (i.e., groundwater governance), while the other constructs had a moderate effect. Among the three constructs of water governance, the efficiency construct (β = 0.404) with the indicators of information and data, budget, legislation, and innovative measures had the greatest impact on the governance of groundwater resources in Hamedan-Bahar plain. Finally, the overall goodness of fit (GOF = 0.77) reflects the excellent fit of the model. According to the results obtained, the water system managers and policy makers in the province should increase stakeholders' knowledge and awareness about new frameworks of water resources governance. A robust framework is presented for policy makers and planners to identify the gaps and problems of water resources. Furthermore, various aspects and features should be emphasized simultaneously so as to achieve sustainable governance of groundwater resources.
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    Farmers’ Participation in Modern Supply Chains: The Case of Mandarin Profitability in Punjab-Pakistan
    (MDPI AG, 2022-11-07)
    Mazhar, Rabia
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    Xuehao, Bi
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    Viira, Ants-Hannes
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    Stamenkovska, Ivana Janeska
    ;
    <jats:p>In developing countries, supply chains are rapidly transforming. However, smallholder farmers, in particular, have experienced mixed impacts in inclusion and exclusion from modern supply chains (MSC). Therefore, by taking Pakistan’s mandarin industry as a case, this study aims to analyze the farmers’ efficiency and inclusiveness in modern supply chains and compare them across the farm size categories, i.e., small, medium, and large. For that purpose, cross-sectional data from 300 farmers were collected to test the posit objectives. The empirical investigation was made using the endogenous treatment effect model and the propensity score matching approach. Findings show that large farmers prefer to participate in MSC, driven by contractors, processors or exporters. Conversely, the smallholders are more inclined to participate in the traditional supply chains (TSCs), driven by village vendors, local retailers/consumers, middlemen, and traditional fruit and vegetable markets. The results also revealed a positive connection between efficiency and farmers’ inclusion in the MSC. Orchard size, education, off-farm income, and extension services positively impact profitability. In terms of an increase in farmers’ profitability, the efficiency improvement can benefit the resource-poor smallholders who make up 74% of the total farmers in the sample. Therefore, these results are noteworthy for devising policy actions to facilitate smallholder inclusion in the modern agri-food supply chains to alleviate rural poverty and ensure farmers’ wellbeing.</jats:p>
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    Causes and Consequences of the Conflict among Agricultural Water Beneficiaries in Iran
    (MDPI AG, 2020-08-17)
    Bijani, Masoud
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    Hayati, Dariush
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    Azadi, Hossein
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    Tanaskovik, Vjekoslav
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    Witlox, Frank
    <jats:p>This study aimed to analyze the causes and consequences of agricultural water conflicts among agricultural water beneficiaries in the irrigation network of Doroodzan dam, Iran. This research applied mixed-method and descriptive analysis, which was done in two qualitative and quantitative phases. The results showed that the causes of water conflicts can be divided into two groups of controllable and uncontrollable factors. The findings revealed that the main causes of agricultural water conflict in the studied area were ‘water scarcity’, ‘drought’, ‘physical structure of the Doroodzan dam irrigation network’, and ‘mismatched size of the irrigation network with Doroodzan dam’s water capacity’ as uncontrollable factors. Furthermore, ‘weakness of governmental water management’, ‘lake for local management of water resources by farmers’, ‘government’s reluctance about farmers’ participation’, and ‘farmers’ reluctance to participate in water management’ were identified as controllable factors. In this study, most of the conditions identified as consequences of water conflicts had ‘socio-economic’ and ‘agro-environmental’ aspects. Finally, based on the findings, a model was designed to determine the causes and consequences of agricultural water conflict. To break the causes and consequences cycle of water conflicts in Iran’s agriculture, the most important solution is shifting from governmentality to governance in water resources management.</jats:p>
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    Assessment of non-monetary facilities in Urmia Lake basin under PES scheme: a rehabilitation solution for the dry lake in Iran
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020-11-03)
    Daneshi, Alireza
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    Panahi, Mostafa
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    Masoomi, Saber
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    Vafakhah, Mehdi
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    Azadi, Hossein
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    An attempt to develop ecotourism in an unknown area: the case of Nehbandan County, South Khorasan Province, Iran
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-01-04)
    Ghorbani, Amir
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    Mousazadeh, Hossein
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    Taheri, Fatemeh
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    Ehteshammajd, Shaghayegh
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    Azadi, Hossein
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    Investigating Subjective and Objective Quality of Life in Rural Areas: the Case of Tehran Province in Iran
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-03-19)
    Ardestani, Leila
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    Choobchian, Shahla
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    Sadighi, Hassan
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    Azadi, Hossein
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    Viira, Ants-Hannes
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    Understanding Farmers’ Intention towards the Management and Conservation of Wetlands
    (MDPI AG, 2021-08-16)
    Valizadeh, Naser
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    Esfandiyari Bayat, Samira
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    Bijani, Masoud
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    Hayati, Dariush
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    Viira, Ants-Hannes
    <jats:p>The aim of the present research was to analyze the farmers’ intention towards participation in the management and conservation of wetlands through the lens of the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). To do this, a cross-sectional survey of Iranian farmers was carried out. To select the samples, a multi-stage random sampling process with a proportional assignment was employed. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability were verified using various quantitative and qualitative indicators. The results of the extended TPB using structural equation modeling showed that four variables, namely moral norms of participation in management and conservation (MNPMC), attitude towards participation in management and conservation (APMC), subjective norms towards participation in management and conservation (SNPMC), and self-concept about participation in management and conservation (SCPMC) had positive and significant impacts on intention towards participation in management and conservation (IPMC). The results also revealed that that entering MNPMC and SCPMC into TPB could increase its explanatory power. Also, the fit indicators supported the extended TPB. From a practical point of view, the present study provides justifications and insights for the use of MNPMC, APMC, SNPMC, and SCPMC in policies and programs intended to encourage farmers and local communities to participate in wetlands management and conservation.</jats:p>
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    Determinants of farmers' choice to use irrigation systems: The case of northern Ethiopia
    (Wiley, 2022-12-27)
    Gebrekidan, Berhe Girmay
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    Abbay, Aradom Gebrekidan
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    Azadi, Hossein
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    Viira, Ants‐Hannes
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    Tanaskovik, Vjekoslav
    <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Climate change is thought to be having a negative impact on Africa's agricultural industry. Smallholder farmers who depend heavily on agriculture are more severely affected by climate change. Droughts and the depletion of water resources are two examples of how climate change affects production. Therefore, it is necessary to take steps to reduce the negative effects of climate change in Ethiopia on smallholder farmers in particular and agriculture in general. Therefore, the purpose of this analysis was to identify the factors that affect the increase in irrigation efficiency among farmers in northern Ethiopia. A total of 194 farmers were picked at random and questioned using semi‐structured questionnaires. Out of the 18 explanatory variables hypothesized to analyse the preference of farmers for using irrigation in the study area, only 13 were considered important. Of these 13 significant explanatory variables, 4 including health status, labour force members, availability of labour and perception of the advantage of using agricultural inputs were statistically significant with farmers' choice of irrigation.</jats:p>
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    Contract Farming and Technical Efficiency: A Case of Export-Oriented Organic Rice Farmers in Pakistan
    (MDPI AG, 2022-11-01)
    Mazhar, Rabia
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    Xuehao, Bi
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    Dogot, Thomas
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    Skominas, Rytis
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    Tanaskovik, Vjekoslav
    <jats:p>Although organic rice is a niche market in Pakistan, it has exhibited enormous potential for growth in export-oriented production. Since contract farming is the leading promoter of export-oriented organic rice production in Punjab, Pakistan, improving the technical efficiency of smallholder rice farmers through contract farming holds sufficient potential. This work examines the influence of contract farming participation on smallholder rice farmers’ technical efficiency using a cross-sectional data set of 650 respondents. We applied a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to examine the production frontier and inefficiency estimates. Further, propensity score matching (PSM) was used to control endogeneity and self-selection bias in technical efficiency estimates. The results reveal that the technical efficiency score of organic rice farmers in Punjab, Pakistan, is 89.7%, which can still be improved by 10.3% at the current sociodemographic characters and input levels. Likewise, land size, seed, and machine expenditures are the key inputs of the production frontier. Results show a positive and significant connection between contract farming participation and technical efficiency. The study extends the literature on technical efficiency, export-oriented production, contract farming, and the well-being of smallholder farmers. Moreover, the study’s findings provide cues for policies and practices.</jats:p>