Village and Development

Village and Development

Agricultural Sustainability Analysis of Rice Farmers in Rasht County

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Kh. Hasanpur 1
R. Esfanjari Kenari 2
z. Amiri 3
1 MSc of Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
2 Corresponding Author and Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
10.30490/rvt.2023.360823.1503
Abstract
Introduction
In order to respond to the growing need for food security of human society, agricultural science requires efforts to establish stable relationships between humans and the environment in the process of intervention in natural resources. Agriculture is an activity that closely deals with the environment. Therefore, to have efficiency and compatibility with the environment, it is necessary to measure and analyze the sustainability of the agricultural system. One of the important aspects of sustainable development is sustainable agriculture which has three main goals, economic productivity, environmental quality and social responsibility, which should be considered together in a conventional way. Knowing these components can play a significant role in developing sustainable agricultural policies and strategies. The main goal of the present study is to identify and analyze the sustainability components of the rice cultivation system in Rasht County.
Materials and Methods
The required data were collected by interviewing and completing questionnaire from the rice farmers of Rasht county in 2019-2020. Hierarchical analysis process (AHP) was used to determine the weight of social, economic and ecological components, and the composite index method was also used to integrate sustainability components. In the calculation of the composite index by the method of deviation from the optimal value, first the different measurement scales of the indicators were divided by the normalized average, and then the optimal pattern was calculated for each farmer.
Results and Discussion
The results showed that 36% of the rice production system is in a normal state and only 4% of the rice production system is in a strong and potentially stable state. The results showed that the native varieties had a more favorable situation in terms of sustainability indicators, and the farmers who used agro ecological management operations were at a higher level in terms of ecological, economic and overall sustainability. Also, the comparison of sustainability levels showed that the economic, ecological and overall sustainability index among farmers using certified seeds was at a higher level than farmers using conventional seeds.
Conclusions
According to the results, farmers who have lump sum lands have a more favorable situation in terms of economic and overall stability. Also, farmers who have used local and certified cultivars have a more favorable situation in terms of sustainability indicators. Therefore, the cultivation of native and certified varieties, agro-ecological management and moving towards larger farm sizes can have a positive effect on the sustainability of rice cultivation.
Keywords
Social Sustainability
Economic Sustainability
Ecological Sustainability
Rice Farmers
Rasht County

Subjects

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