Analysis of Impacts of Arable Land Fragmentation in East Azarbayjan Province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Graduated of Agricultural Development, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

2 Professor Department of Agricultural Management and Development, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

3 Professor, Department of Agricultural Management and Development, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Management and Development, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

The existence of irregularity in the ownership and pattern of agricultural land distribution is one of the most important challenges to sustainable agricultural development, which can lead to increase production costs, wasteful time for farmers, and reduce production efficiency. Therefore, the present research was carried out with the aim of analyzing the arable land fragmentation in East Azarbaijan Province so that by identifying these impacts, could be suitable solutions proposed for coping with arable land fragmentation. The statistical society of this research is the farmers of the agricultural sector located in East Azarbaijan province (N=212926). The sample size was estimated using Cochran's formula of 380 people. They selected by stratified sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire, that its validity confirmed by a group of faculty members at Tehran universities and Gorgan Agriculture University, and experts in agricultural lands working in Land Affairs Organization of Iran. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient: economic impacts=0.81, social impacts=0.91, technical impacts=0.75 and management impacts=0.86. The results of prioritization of impacts of arable land fragmentation showed that the most important effecs of arable land fragmentation were: increase of the problem of water division and its transfer to the other farm, increase of production costs, and decrease of productivity of production factors, increase in transportation costs, and the waste of time in the rebellion to various parts. Also, the results of structural equation modeling showed that economic impacts (with factor load of 0.87) were the most effective outcomes among the impacts of arable land fragmentation.

Keywords

References

1-    Abdollahi, M. (1999). Agricultural Holding Systems in Iran; Deputy of Holding Systems, Ministry of Agriculture. (In Farsi).
2-    Abdollahzadeh, G., Kalantari, K., Sehhat, A., & Khajeh shahkohee, A. (2012). An Assessment of the Effects of Land Renovation and Development Schemes (A Case Study of Khor and Biabanak Area, Esfahan Province). Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 43(1), 39-48. Doi: 10.22059/ijaedr.2012.30444. (In Farsi).
3-    Abdollahzadeh, G., Kalantari, KH, Sharifzadeh, M.SH, & Sehat, A.)2012(. Farmland Fragmentation and Consolidation Issues in Iran; an Investigation from Landholder's Viewpoint. Journal of agricultural science and technology. 14, 1441-1452
4-       Amirtaimoori, S. & Khalilian, S. (2009). Investigating Agricultural Factors Productivity in Iran. Agricultural Economics, Volume 2, Number 4; 93-113. (In Farsi).
5-    Arsalan bod, M. R. & Esmaeil pur, A. (2001). Investigating the small effect and dispersion of production units on production costs; (Case study: blue wheat in West Azarbaijan), Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development, VOL 30. 113-130. (In Farsi).
6-    Bakhshoodeh, M. (1988). Economical investigation of land dispersion in Fars province of Iran. Msc thesis in agricultural econimics, Faculty of agriculture, the University of Shiraz. (In Farsi).
7-       Kotrlik, J. W. K. J. W., & Higgins, C. C. H. C. C. (2001). Organizational research: Determining appropriate sample size in survey research appropriate sample size in survey research. Information technology, learning, and performance journal, 19(1), p 43.
8-       Bentley, W. (1987). Economic and ecological approaches to land fragmentation: In defence
of a much-maligned phenomenon. Annual Review of Anthropology, 16, 31–67.
9-    Blaikie, P. (1971). Spatial organization of agriculture in some north Indian villages: Part 1. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 52, 1–40.
10- Bullard, R.K., (1983). A comparison between the impact of abandoned and fragmented land, Federation Internationale des Geometres, XVII International Congress, Sofia, Bulgaria, Invited Paper 704.3,1-9.
11- Burton, S. (1988). Land consolidation in Cyprus: A vital policy for rural reconstruction. Land Use Policy, 5(1), 131–147.
12- Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling techniques (3rd Ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
13- Demetriou, D. Stillwell, J. See, L. (2012). Land consolidation in Cyprus: Why is an Integrated Planning and Decision Support System required? Land Use Policy, 29 (1), 131–142.
14- Eftekhari, R. (1995). Land consolidation process in Falavarjan, Isfahan. 9th Congress of Geographers of Iran. University of Tabriz. (In Farsi).
15- Hartvigsen, M. (2014). Land reform and land fragmentation in Central and Eastern Europe. Land Use Policy, 36, 330–341.
16-   Huang, Q. Li, M. & Z. Chen, (2010): Land Consolidation: An Approach for Sustainable Development in Rural China, AMBIO (A Journal of the Human Environment), 40, 93–95.
17- Jabarin, Amer S. & Epplin, Francis M. (1994). Impacts of land fragmentation on the cost of producing wheat in the rain-fed region of northern Jordan. Agricultural economics, 11 (1994), 191-196.
18- Jacoby, E. H. (1968). Agrarian reconstruction, basic study, NO. 18. FAO, ROME. PP: 31-42.
19- Jamshidi, A., Teimori, M., & Jamshidi, M. (2012). Analysis of factors affecting land fragmentation in Shirvan Chardavol County, and provision of appropriate reorganizing mechanisms. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 42-2(3), 367-378. (In Farsi).
20- Jamshidi, A.R., & Amini, A.M. (2013). Factors Affecting Adoption and Implementation of Agricultural Land Consolidation Plan in Ilam Province. Iranian Journal of Arid Regions Geographics Studies. 2(7), 103-118. (In Farsi).
21- Jasbir, Sing, & Dhillon, S.S. (1989), Agricultural geography, second edittion, New Delhi, Tata, Mc.Graw-Hill.
22- Kalantari, Kh. (2015). Structural Equation Modeling in Socio-Economic Research by LISREL Software, Farhang e Saba publication. Tehran. (In Farsi).
23- Karouzis, G. (1977). Land ownership in Cyprus: Past and present. Nicosia: Strabo.
24- Karouzis, G. (1980). Report on aspects of land tenure in Cyprus. Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Cyprus, Nicosia
25- Latruffe, L., & Piet, L. (2014). Does land fragmentation affect farm performance? A case study from Brittany, France. Agricultural systems, 129, 68-80.
26- Matondi, P.B. (2013). Scope for Empowering Women through Entrepreneurial Development in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) Sector in Zimbabwe, Investment Climate and Business Environment Research Fund (ICBE-RF), Dakar, January 2013. www.trustafrica.org/icbe.
27- McPherson, M. (1982). Land Fragmentation: A Selected Literature Review. Development Discussion Paper No. 141. Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard University.
28- Mehta, G.S. (2002). Non-Farm Economy and Rural Development. GIRI Institute of Development, Studies Sector, PP.21-41.
29- Mirderikvand, A. (2008). Agricultural land consolidation plan and its effects on production. Lorestan Agricultural Jihad Organization. (In Farsi).
30- Nguyen, T. Cheng, E. & Findlay, C. (1996). Land fragmentation and farm productivity in China in the 1990. China Economic Review, 7(2), 169-180.
31- Niroula, G.S. & Thapa, G.B. (2005). Impacts and causes of land fragmentation, andlessons learned from land consolidation in South Asia. Land Use Policy, 22, 358–372.
32- Purmarashi, SM (1998). Agricultural land consolidation in Iran and other countries. The magazine of plan and budget, 12, 59-84. (In Farsi).
33- Rahimian, M. (2010). Investigating the effects of land Fragmentation and dispersion on wheat production indices among wheat farmers in KuhDashte County. Msc Thesis on Rural Development Field. Faculty of Economics and Agricultural Development, University of Tehran. (In Farsi).
34- Rembold, F. (2003). Land fragmentation and its impact in Central and Eastern European countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Land Reform nr. 1/2003. FAO.
35-   Rezaei moghaddam, K, Rahimi, S, & Bakhshoodeh, M. (2014). Individual, Economic, Social, Environmental and Agronomic Factors Affecting Adoption of Agricultural Land Consolidation by Wheat Growers in Shiraz County, Journal of Agricultural Economics Research, 6(22), 135-157. (In Farsi).
36-   Riddell, J., & Rembold, F. (2000). Social and economic impact of land fragmentation on rural society in selected EU accession countries. In Proceedings of the UDMS (pp. 13-20).
37-   Rostami, F., Moradi, K., Gravandi, S., Afsharzadeh, N., Ghanbarali, R., Zarafshani, K., & Farhadi, M. (2013). Participatory Appraisal of Land fragmentation, renovation and development plane in Miandarband plain, Kermanshah Province on farmers view. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 44(2), 283-295. (In Farsi).
38- Shahbazi, E. (1996). Some of the basic issues of production in Iran's agricultural sector. The academy of science quarterly, 4, 111-128. (In Farsi).
39- Shahbazi, E. (1988). Agricultural development and land fragmentation issue, 1st conference investigation of agricultural development problems in Iran. Agricultural and natural resource researches organization, 507-563. (In Farsi).
40- Sklenicka, P., Zouhar, J., Trpáková, I., & Vlasák, J. (2017). Trends in land ownership fragmentation during the last 230 years in Czechia, and a projection of future developments. Land Use Policy, 67, 640-651.
41-   Statistical Centre of Iran (2015). https://www.amar.org.ir/
42- Taghdisi, A. & Boshagh, M.R. (2011). The most important activities and challenges on agriculture and the influence of level of changes under cultivation on the situation of rural population (Case study: Eastern Silakhor village of the town Azna). Iranian Journal of Rural Research. 1(2), 137-160. (In Farsi).
43- Taleb, M. (1988). The factors of land fragmentation and indigence of land holdings consolidation, magazine of the growth of geography education, VOL 11, 13-25. (In Farsi).
44- Taleb, M. (1989). The role of family enterprising holding in agricultural development. Social Science Quarterly, 3, 145-160. (In Farsi).
45- Tan, S., Heerink, N. & Qu, F. (2006). Land fragmentation and its driving forces in China. Land Use Policy, 23(3), 272–285.
46- Tavassoli, M.R. (2000). Investigating the Effect of New Operations, Equipping, Modernization and Integration of Land in Traditional Mazandaran Rice Fields on Rice performance. Msc Thesis, Government Education Management Center. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of Sari. . (In Farsi).
47- Thompson, K. (1963). Farm fragmentation in Greece. Centre of Economic Research, Monograph Series 5, Athens.
48- Todorova, S. A. & Lulcheva, D. (2005). Economic and Social effects of Land Fragmentation on Bulgarian Agriculture. Journal Central European Agriculture, 6, 555-562.
49- Yan, J. Xia, F. & Li, Q. (2012). Top strategy design of comprehensive land consolidation in China. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 28(14), 1-9 (in Chinese).
50- Yates, P. (1960). Food land and manpower in Western Europe. New York: Macmillan.
51- Zafarnezhad, F. (1989). Available operating systems in Iran - Appropriate exploitation pattern in agricultural development plans. The First National Congress on Proceedings Iranian Agricultural Development problems. The publication of Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Organization. Pp 429. Tehran. (In Farsi).
Zare Mehrjerdi, M R, Esfandiari, S, Sepahvand, E, & Nikzad, M. (2017). Investigate the Effect of Mechanization on Productivity of the Iranian Agricultural Sector (Use A Comparative Approach Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model and Genetic Algorithms). Iranian Journal of Agricultural economics and development research, 48(1), 9-22 (in Farsi)
Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Volume 51, Issue 3
August 2020
Pages 565-585

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics