Investigating the Strategies of Sustainability Development in Greenhouses of Alborz Province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Greenhouse cultivation is the most intensive form of crop production, which provides a controlled microclimate that may be adapted to the needs of plants, resulting in higher yield. In recent decades area under greenhouse cultivation expand worldwide and its share in total production of agricultural products has increased dramatically. However, regarding to high consumption of chemical inputs in this cultivation system, its sustainability is under suspicion. Thus, providing mechanisms for maintaining sustainability of this production unit, leads to product healthy foods. So, this paper aims to analyze strategies of sustainability development in greenhouse cultivation of Alborz province. The methodology used in this study was collection of primary data and field observations. The target population for this study consisted of all active greenhouse owners in Alborz province (N=366). The sample (155 cases) was randomly selected and the questionnaire was evaluated by use of Cochran's formula. Reliability of the research instrument was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.85). Results showed that the strategies classified in 6 categorize, which explained 67 percent of the total variances. In this study, a confirmatory factor analysis was applied to evaluate the goodness of fit indices. The result revealed that strategies of sustainability development in greenhouses consisted of six separate factors including: supportive, production, pricing - marketing, credit, research-extension and environmental.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Volume 47, Issue 1
April 2016
Pages 181-196

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