Rural Development Strategies

Abstract Although different governments place a lot of interest in developing rural tourism targets and a lot of budgets are spend in this respect, less attention is paid to study the attitudes of the host communities towards tourism.  Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the factors that can affect the attitudes of rural people towards rural tourism in the Doroodzan District of the Marvdasht County. The research was conducted in 2015.  The survey research method was used for this purpose and data were collected using a pre-designed questionnaire. The research sample included 250 villagers that were selected using Kerjcie and Morgan Sampling Table and the Random Sampling Technique. The Face validity of the questionnaire was verified by the expert faculty members and the staff of the Rural Development Management Department of the Yasouj University, and its reliability was also verified by calculating Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient (from 0.61 to 0.86) that was obtained from a pilot study.  The results of the Path Analysis showed that value of tourism is the most effective factor for predicting the respondents' attitudes towards rural tourism. Next to that there are other variables such as income from tourism and observation that have had the most effect on the respondents' attitudes. Finally, it is recommended that the means of mass media such as local radio and television broadcast services prepare programs and campaigns about rural tourism and related topics in order to improve the attitudes of the rural people towards rural tourism.

Abstract Although different governments place a lot of interest in developing rural tourism targets and a lot of budgets are spend in this respect, less attention is paid to study the attitudes of the host communities towards tourism.  Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the factors that can affect the attitudes of rural people towards rural tourism in the Doroodzan District of the Marvdasht County. The research was conducted in 2015.  The survey research method was used for this purpose and data were collected using a pre-designed questionnaire. The research sample included 250 villagers that were selected using Kerjcie and Morgan Sampling Table and the Random Sampling Technique. The Face validity of the questionnaire was verified by the expert faculty members and the staff of the Rural Development Management Department of the Yasouj University, and its reliability was also verified by calculating Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient (from 0.61 to 0.86) that was obtained from a pilot study.  The results of the Path Analysis showed that value of tourism is the most effective factor for predicting the respondents' attitudes towards rural tourism. Next to that there are other variables such as income from tourism and observation that have had the most effect on the respondents' attitudes. Finally, it is recommended that the means of mass media such as local radio and television broadcast services prepare programs and campaigns about rural tourism and related topics in order to improve the attitudes of the rural people towards rural tourism.

Abstract In recent years, fresh water has been increasingly reduced and saline water has been one of the options to help the continuity and stability of agricultural activities. Hence, long-term sustainability of saline water irrigation depends on how to manage it at the fields. Optimal management requires identifying the factors affecting it. In this regard, this study used the descriptive–survey method to analyze the factors affecting the optimal management of saline water based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. The statistical population of the study consisted of all the farmers of the Karun County (N=19720). By using the table of Krejcie and Morgan, the sample size was determined (n= 120). The sample was chosen through the simple random sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire's face and content validity were approved by a panel of the agricultural extension and education experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating the Cranach’s alpha coefficient (0.65-0.83). The data was analyzed by using the SPSS software. At the first stage the variables was converted to standard scores in order to construct livelihood assets indices. Then, principal component analysis was ran to assign the weights of the indicators. The results showed that farmers' management behavior in using saline water was dominated by technical management manners. Social capital and physical capital were known as the most and least livelihood assets of farmers, respectively. Also, there were statistically significant differences in farmers' management behavior based on their livelihood assets.

Abstract Rural development is necessary due to the growth in population and the reduction of food resources. Thus, development of rural agro industries is one of the most important issues for politicians and researchers. The agro industry can play an important role in the use of agricultural products as raw materials and the ensuing development of rural areas. Therefore, this study was carried out aimed at the analysis of factors affecting the export of food industry products in the Khorasan Razavi province. For this purpose, the factors were classified into five main groups based on a review of previous studies and viewpoints of that were obtained after interviewing with  sixty experts in this field, These five groups are: macroeconomic, business and market, technical, financial and credit and the exchange process factors for analysis. Then Path Analysis Models were used for analyzing the impact of these factors. The results showed that macro economic, business and market and financial and credit factors have direct effects on the export of the products of the food industry. Furthermore, technical and exchange process factors have an indirect effect on the export of products of the food industry.

Abstract Abstract
The quantity of the received calories by families is one of the important debates in public and development economic context. This is an attractive subject for government officials and policy makers in different countries. In the current paper, the impacts of households' income shocks, price and food commodity subsidies on the quantity of the received amount of calories in the rural parts of Iran are studied. For this purpose, we used time series data of 1961-2011 in the vector auto-regressive (VAR) model. The results indicated that the impact period of the applied shock on the quantity of paid subsidies to agricultural sector is shorter than the period of price and income shocks. Besides, the most sensitivity of calorie demand is related to the income factor. According to the research findings, we can conclude that for creating food security, we should create economic stability in the market and consider the final effect of changes in nutrition pattern when determining the policies regarding market regulation, subsidies and taxation regardless of income growth that affect rural households and will have a serious negative impact on calories.

Abstract Abstract
The present study was aimed at analyzing the barriers against wheat farmers' participation in the formation of water users association within the framework of a descriptive survey. The sample of this study included 375 wheat farmers in Dez irrigation system who were selected through random cluster sampling and were studied through a questionnaire. The reliability index of this questionnaire was estimated to be 0.89. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the experts and scholars in the field. After the participants filled the questionnaires and the data were collected, the SPSS software package was used to analyze the data. In addition, the results of factor analysis related to the items of barriers led to the extraction of four barriers. These barriers, in order of importance, include the lack of proper infrastructures and economic facilities, social barriers, inadequate structural characteristics and lack of risk-taking, local organizations and lack of attention to extension activities that explain 60.78 percent of the variance of all the barriers.

Abstract This study aims to study and prioritize the most important services of carbon Sequestration International Project on Empowering Local Communities in the scope of study. Three functions or services of project were studied and evaluated. Services or functions of granting the productions loans for employment and etc., the functions of Desertification and restoring the rangelands, and finally the function of facilities available to local people including solar and desalination bathroom were chosen as the studied options. The results showed that the most distance from solving Fuzzy Topsis is related to facilities with 1.63 and the option or function of Livestock production with 1.18 has the minimum solution of Fuzzy Topsis. On the other hand, the results showed that the solution of anti-Fuzzy Topsis for Livestock production with 1.52 has the most distance and criteria of facilities has the least distance with 0.95. Since the amount of Similarity index is closer to 1 for the criteria of Livestock Production. This criteria is selected as the most important and the first function of Carbon Sequestration International Project and desertification and restoring grasslands is selected as the second function and facilities is selected as the third function of project.

Abstract The phenomenon of inequality between urban and rural households, mainly rural poverty is one of the things that has attracted especial attention to rural development in the world. This study is descriptive- correlational with the overall objective of ranking rural micro-credit courses based on the achievement of sustainable development in rural areas. This this research study was conducted based on confirmatory factor analysis. The population of this study included all of the personnel of credit institutions and the micro-level depositors and the Morgan table and random sampling of depositors (195) were used.  Data analysis was performed using SPSS software package. The results show that Dehagh, Khezra Sin and Azadi credit institutions ranks in achieving sustainable development are the first, the second and the third, respectively. The results indicate that the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development have received very little attention. Moreover, the authorities of these units can play a significant role in directing attention to these issues. Thus, it is recommended that the authorities in charge of these units be selected based on criteria such as education level, age, and belief in cooperatives, and etc.