Introduction
Unauthorized land use change of agricultural lands has become one of the most serious challenges to food security, environmental sustainability, and rural development in developing countries, including Iran. Ilam Province, located in western Iran, is particularly vulnerable because of its mountainous topography, limited agricultural land (approximately 234,500 hectares), and its relatively small geographical extent, accounting for less than 1.2% of Iran’s total area. Its location in a border region with underdeveloped infrastructure further intensifies these vulnerabilities. Despite the enactment of the Law on Protection of Agricultural and Garden Lands in 1995, unauthorized construction and land conversion have accelerated in recent years, driven by factors such as declining profitability of farming, land speculation, weak law enforcement, and socio-cultural transformations in rural communities. The main objective of this study is to identify and prioritize economic and socio-cultural strategies for preventing unauthorized agricultural land-use conversion in Ilam Province from the perspective of household heads who had converted agricultural land during the preceding five years.
Materials and Methods
This applied study employed a descriptive-analytical, survey-based design and focused on the quantitative assessment of economic and socio-cultural strategies for preventing unauthorized conversion of agricultural land in Ilam Province, Iran. The statistical population consisted of 1,565 household heads who had converted agricultural land to other uses during the preceding five years. Using Cochran’s formula, a sample of 310 respondents was determined and selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 34 items organized into two dimensions: economic and socio-cultural. All items were rated on a five-point Likert scale. Content validity was assessed and confirmed by a panel of experts in agriculture, land affairs, and rural development. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α=0.833). Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, were used to describe respondents’ characteristics and research variables. One-sample t-tests were applied to assess the perceived importance of the proposed strategies. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), following the assessment of sampling adequacy using the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure and Bartlett’s test of sphericity, was conducted to identify the underlying dimensions of the strategies. Varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretability of the extracted factors.
Results and Discussion
The results indicated that respondents assigned a higher mean score to economic strategies (mean = 3.60) than to socio-cultural strategies (mean = 3.17). Both dimensions scored significantly above the theoretical midpoint of 3 (p < 0.001). EFA revealed five economic factors explaining 69.149% of the total variance: (1) financial and credit support (21.159%), including low-interest loans, direct subsidies, tax exemptions, and support funds; (2) tax and penalty policies (13.928%), covering progressive land taxes, heavy fines, and allocating tax revenues to farmer support; (3) infrastructure and market improvement (12.594%), such as irrigation networks, cold storage, guaranteed markets, and contract farming; (4) agricultural economy development (11.955%), including modern farming, processing industries, and value chains; (5) land market control (9.512%), involving price ceilings, transaction monitoring, and anti-speculation measures. For the socio-cultural dimension, six factors explained 76.647% of the variance: (1) local institutions and participation (18.569%); (2) social organization and local interactions (14.282 %); (3) cultural and social influence (11.2%); (4) formal education and awareness (11.172%); (5) media and environmental advertising (11.114%); (6) cultural identity and land attachment (10.280 %). These findings align with land transfer theory, which posits that land changes use when economic returns from non-agricultural uses exceed those from agriculture, and with pressure-response theory, where economic pressures drive land conversion.
Conclusions
Unauthorized land use change in Ilam Province is predominantly driven by economic factors, particularly income instability, land speculation, and the wide price gap between agricultural and residential land. However, relying solely on economic instruments is insufficient. Success requires an integrated, multi-level approach combining economic strategies (low-interest loans, direct subsidies, crop insurance, guaranteed purchase, progressive taxes, heavy fines, land market regulation) with socio-cultural strategies (strengthening local councils and cooperatives, participatory monitoring, formal and informal education, media campaigns, revival of indigenous agricultural rituals, and promoting women's role in farming). Effective implementation also demands coordination among all relevant institutions—Agricultural Jihad, Land Affairs Organization, local governments, law enforcement, and the judiciary—along with active community participation.