Sustainability status of potato cultivation, Bahar-plain of Hamedan province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Senior Expert, Rural Development, University of Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Agricultural Economics and Management, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is analyzing sustainability condition for potato cultivation in Bahar-Hamedan plain. Potato farmers Population in this plain is 2054 individuals. We obtained sample size, which are 162 by using Cochrane’s formula. For increasing accuracy 172 samples fill out the questionnaires. Data analyzed by SPSS software. Results showed that sustainability level was low or very low for more than fifty percent of farmers. Five factors including land under cultivation, the ratio of land under crop rotation to land under cultivation, amount of chemical fertilizers used by farmer, amount of poisons, and sustainable agriculture level can explain 69% of variation in Agricultural-Ecological sustainability. Area under Cultivation, the amount of damage per acres, seed cost, insured area and total revenue explain 62% of variation in terms of Economical sustainability. Furthermore, income diversity, level of communication facilities used by farmer, the knowledge level about the sustainable agriculture and farmer experience in potato cultivation explain 55% of variation in social sustainability.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Volume 45, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
October 2014
Pages 451-465

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