Rural women in developing countries often face significant barriers to employment, income generation, and access to productive resources. In Iran, medicinal plants (MPs) cultivation offers a sustainable pathway toward economic empowerment and livelihood resilience. This study develops and prioritizes strategies to enhance the livelihood sustainability of rural women through MPs cultivation using an integrated SWOT (Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats)-Fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)-TOWS (Threats- Opportunities - Weaknesses- Strengths) model. Data collected from experts in agricultural and rural development sectors were analyzed to evaluate internal and external strategic factors. The strategic space analysis revealed that internal strengths (0.473) outweighed weaknesses (0.128), while external opportunities (0.325) surpassed threats (0.092), indicating that the favorable strategic space (O + S = 0.798) dominated the risky space (T + W = 0.220). Twelve strategies were formulated and prioritized, among which two emerged as most critical: (1) economic empowerment of rural women through home-based MPs processing enterprises and (2) promotion of greenhouse-based cultivation as a sustainable alternative to wild harvesting. The findings highlight the importance of leveraging indigenous knowledge, improving branding and packaging, and strengthening institutional support to achieve sustainable rural livelihoods. The proposed hybrid framework provides a replicable analytical tool for policymakers to design context-specific interventions linking women's empowerment, biodiversity conservation, and rural economic sustainability.

Natural hazards have led to livelihood insecurity, poverty, and infrastructure destruction in arid regions. It is essential to enhance the farmers' resilience to current and future hazards. In this respect, understanding adaptive strategies that increase the farmers' resilience is imperative. The present qualitative research was conducted to identify adaptive strategies for farmers of the Sistan Plain (Iran) to enhance their resilience to hazards. Data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with experts, observation, and field notes. The results revealed drought, dust storms, and floods as the major hazards farmers face in this area. The adaptive strategies to drought could be divided into technical-agricultural management, water resources management, livelihood, and legal-infrastructure factors. In addition, strategies for enhancing farmers' resilience to floods included infrastructure, technical, and livelihood management strategies. Also, the findings indicated that dealing with the dust storms requires applying technical, economic, legal, and infrastructure strategies. Risk management, good water governance and water diplomacy, accelerating economic growth, developing non-farm and small-scale enterprises, building capacity and empowering rural families, and strengthening infrastructures can enhance resilience to natural hazards in Sistan Plain.

Considering that the behavior of farmers regarding the use of smart climate agricultural technologies is influenced by the socio-economic conditions of their locality, this study identified the constituent components of optimal agricultural water consumption management in Pakdasht city, Iran. To analyze the data, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed using AMOS20 to investigate the linear relationships between latent and explicit variables. The results showed that the hidden variables of educational and economic, technical and economic, and cultural and economic dimensions have a significant relationship with each other. Variables such as financial support from official institutions to greenhouse owners for the preparation and installation of new irrigation systems, financial facilities provided by Agriculture Bank for greenhouse development, financial support for research and development in optimal water management, and financial support packages for adopters of smart technologies impact the economic dimension of water consumption management among greenhouse owners. Additionally, the ability to attract support from local leaders for optimal water management, capacity building, and the empowerment of local communities—particularly youth—in this area, as well as the formation of cooperative groups among users of new irrigation methods, facilitate interactions between greenhouse owners.

The main purpose of this research was to design an extension model compatible with drought management in Iran. The research utilized a mixed research approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the qualitative section, data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observation, and review of relevant sources. The participants in this section were 15 of extension experts with significant experience in drought management, selected through purposeful and snowball sampling methods. The data was analyzed using the systematic grounded theory approach with MAXQUDA10 software, following Strauss and Corbin's (1998) approach. In the quantitative section, the statistical population included experts, trainers, and professors whose field or organizational post was related to water resources, irrigation and drainage, agricultural extension and development, and drought, working full-time in the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (N= 6018). The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula, with a total of 372 participants. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and PLS software were used for data analysis. The results showed that the main components of the model were the detailed requirements of drought management (coefficient of coefficient 0.013), extensional methods of drought management (0.033), contextual conditions (0.1011), supporting conditions (0.166), conditions and causes (0.102), and consequences of drought management (0.065). Finally, an extension model compatible with drought management in Iran was presented.

In recent years, climate change and improper exploitation of the Bam Dej wetland have disrupted the ecological balance and increased the vulnerability of stakeholders. This has jeopardized the sustainability of the wetland. Therefore, the present study aims to analyze the social-ecological resilience of the stakeholders of the Bam dej wetland in the face of climate change, using an exploratory mixed-method research approach (qualitative-quantitative). This approach provided a deeper understanding of the social and ecological interactions and helped identify the factors influencing resilience in this ecosystem. In the first phase, grounded theory methodology was used to analyze qualitative data. This method, implemented through semi-structured interviews with 20 managers, experts, and specialists familiar with the region, helped identify key concepts and extract a conceptual model of resilience. Participants were selected using snowball sampling, and data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously through continuous comparison. Maxqda software was used for qualitative data analysis, with coding done in three stages: open, axial, and selective. In the second phase, the conceptual model obtained from the qualitative phase was tested quantitatively through structural analysis. The results of this study revealed that strategies were most influenced by contextual conditions, followed by intervening and causal conditions, indicating the significance of environmental and intervening conditions in shaping strategies. Furthermore, the outcomes were highly dependent on the strategies, and improvements in contextual conditions led to better outcomes. These findings confirm the model's ability to identify influential factors and provide practical solutions to enhance stakeholder resilience. Overall, the resilience level of the wetland stakeholders was assessed as moderate.

Droughts, floods, and dust storms have increased the vulnerability of farm families in developing countries. Well-timed and effective interventions could reduce vulnerability to natural hazards. However, the adoption of adaptive strategies is significantly influenced by the farmers' viewpoints about the causes and effects of natural hazards and their perceived capacity to deal with these crises. This study employed the Q methodology to investigate farmers' viewpoints on vulnerability and adaptation to natural hazards in the Sistan Plain, Iran. The Q-sort procedure was conducted with the participation of 29 farmers, and the qmethod package in R software was used to analyze the Q-factor. The results revealed four types of perceptions regarding vulnerability and adaptation to natural hazards: passive-oriented, pragmatic activists, consequentialists, and change-averse. Different viewpoints demonstrate that farmers have divergent opinions regarding vulnerability and adaptation to natural hazards. Identifying these viewpoints can provide useful information for policymaking and the scaling up of specific adaptive strategies for each group, which can eventually enhance farmers’ resilience to natural disasters.

Brands are among the most valuable assets of agricultural businesses. Geographical branding can play a fundamental role in national and international markets by creating a competitive identity. On the other hand, orchard owners in a certain geographical region can understand the status of a product’s supply chain. Nonetheless, few studies have focused on how branding can influence the status of a product’s supply chain. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the effect of geographical branding on improving the apple supply chain. The research is an applied study in terms of the goal, conducted by the survey methodology. Data were collected by distributing 360 questionnaires among apple orchard owners in Damavand County sampled by simple randomization. Cochran’s formula estimated the sample size. The research instrument was a research-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. According to the results, special brand value, brand loyalty, brand image, brand attitude, brand experience, brand purchasing intention, and brand identity were the components found to improve the efficiency of the Apple supply chain significantly.

Dust storms are among the major environmental problems. Most governments have failed to manage this recurring phenomenon. The present study investigated the farmers’ resilience to dust storms and the factors reducing their vulnerability to these catastrophic events. To this end, a mixed-methods research approach, including grounded theory and survey research, was performed. Qualitative findings were analyzed using Atlas. ti 9 software and the factors affecting farmers’ resilience and vulnerability to dust were identified through the application of SmartPLS3 software. Qualitative findings disclosed that agricultural education and extension services, financial supports, and health care, political, and legal supports can enhance the resilience of farmers to dust storms. However, among the five dimensions of resilience to dust storms, including access to basic services, adaptive capacity, assets, social safety nets, and stability, assets and access to basic services were among the major indicators of resilience. Additionally, health care, political, and legal supports, agricultural education and extension services, and financial supports were the main determinants of resilience to dust storms. Furthermore, quantitative analysis revealed low, medium, and high vulnerabilities to dust storms. Assets and access to basic services were the major drivers of farmers’ vulnerability to dust storms. Providing institutional, educational, financial, and health care supports can enhance farmers’ resilience to dust storms. Also, poverty alleviation and capacity-building policies can empower vulnerable groups and reduce their reliance on climate-sensitive income resources.

The research aimed to identify the challenges of developing and implementing a climate-smart agriculture (CSA)-based curriculum in Iran’s agricultural vocational schools. It was exploratory descriptive-analytical in nature and applied in goal, in which data were collected with the library and deep interview method. The research methodology was based on grounded theory. The statistical population was composed of 16 researchers, authors, managers, and experts of the Office of Textbook Compilation of the Organization for Educational Research and Planning and the Research Center of Educational Studies. The participants were selected by the homogenous purposive sampling method. The interview with the target population continued until it reached theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed using the content analysis method. The data collected in the interviews were subjected to open, axial, and selective coding, which resulted in deriving 119 concepts and 28 categories. The results revealed a seven-dimension structure composed of the challenges related to determining educational goals, trainees, trainers’ professional process, teaching methods, curriculum content selection and organization, curriculum implementation, and curriculum appraisal. The results can help the experts in the Office of Textbook Compilation experts adopt smarter policies and solutions to solve the challenges of developing and implementing a CSA-based curriculum in agricultural vocational schools in Iran.

One of the important pillars for achieving organizational objectives is the presence of qualified human resources. Professional competencies in experts working in agricultural consulting, technical, and engineering services companies (ACTESCs) can be a basis for the quality of human resources and assure the quality of the functions of this system. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify the professional competencies required by extension experts working in these companies to provide extension services from their perspectives. The research method was a survey. The statistical population of the study consisted of 593 extension experts working in these companies, from whom 234 people were selected as the sample by the use of Cochran’s formula. In the field stage, a questionnaire was used as the main research tool. The face and content validities as well as the reliability of the research tool were confirmed. The result of the structural equation modeling approach confirmed the hypothesis that economic, technical, and communicational functions play roles in providing extension services. Accordingly, it is recommended to fill the gap between the existing competencies and the competencies required by the experts working in the ACTESCs to provide appropriate Private Extension Services (PESs).

Encouraging stakeholder participation is now considered an appropriate approach to green space improvement. The main question is how to have people participate in the improvement process. This study aims to propose a participatory stakeholder management model of green space improvement in Tehran Metropolis. Therefore, 190 of Tehran Municipality's green space experts were selected as the statistical population for in-person and field interviews. The dependent research variable was defined as the green space improvement measured in four dimensions (i.e., green space planning, green space designing, green space implementation, and green space maintenance). However, the independent variable included the aspects of participatory management (i.e., participation in goal-setting, participation in decision-making, participation in organizational change, participation in problem-solving, and organizational culture). The results indicated that only organizational culture and participation in organizational change explained nearly 96% of participatory management variations and improved 67% of the green space.

This research aimed to ascertain the prerequisites for the advancement of the slow food movement in Iran. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, it adopted a descriptive and survey-oriented design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 experts well-versed in the extension of slow food, employing a snowball sampling technique. The interview data underwent coding and analysis employing open coding, axial coding, and selective coding methods. The study encompassed experts and managers in agricultural extension and education across the nation. For statistical analysis, a structural equation model and confirmatory factor analysis were employed, utilizing SMART PLS 3 and SPSS 26 software. The goodness-of-fit index (GoF) was utilized to evaluate the comprehensive validity of the research model. From a qualitative perspective, six primary facets of the slow food model emerged: 1. Extension strategies in harmony with slow food principles; 2. Methods of extending the slow food movement; 3. Supportive policies for slow food propagation; 4. Intervening conditions; 5. Causal conditions (triggers and applications) of the slow food paradigm; and 6. Outcomes resulting from the adoption of the slow food ethos. These facets collectively comprised a total of 38 sub-components. Through analysis of the structural equation model, key facets with substantial operational weight and significant influence on the promotion of slow food were identified. These prominent components encompass disease prevention, the organization of festivals and exhibitions, the revision of laws, the shaping of individuals’ lifestyles, the enhancement of food tourism capacity, and the optimization of human resources.

Organic agriculture (OA) is an ecological, economic and social system that has been in the spotlight to replace and reduce the adverse consequences of conventional agriculture (CA) and achieve sustainable agriculture. The future of OA depends heavily on the knowledge of producers. Accordingly, the current research is based on the Borich model and a survey method using a questionnaire, to examine the existing knowledge and needed by Damavand gardeners to produce organic apples. Thus, using Cochran's formula, a sample of 158 gardeners were selected and interviewed by simple random sampling method. The results showed that in the planting stage, most of the respondents had very poor and weak level of knowledge, in the growing stage and the harvest the less than needed average level of knowledge to produce organic apples. However, this need decreases with increasing issues such as level of education, use of information resources, level of cultivation and work experience. Finally, based on the Borich model, priority educational issues were identified to bridge the knowledge gap in order to produce organic apples in the planting, growing and harvesting stages.

Iran's agriculture is globally well-known for its pistachio product. However, traditional management approaches and poor application of proper new technologies have brought reduced productivity and environmental hazards. In the information age, in order to transition from traditional to modern horticultural model, the application of precision agriculture model is appropriate. Therefore the purpose of the present study is to determine the challenges of precision agriculture application in pistachio orchards in Semnan province. The research method was survey. The statistical population were 187 horticultural experts of Semnan and counties' agricultural research center. By of Cochran formulae, 124 people were selected as sample. It was used a stratified random sampling method. In field study step, it was used the questionnaire as the main research tool. It was confirmed the face and content validity and reliability of research tool. The results of prioritizing the challenges of application of PA in pistachio orchards showed that the respondents’ point view, the lack of economic justification for PA from the point of view of gardeners in the area, fragmentation of lands and lack of integrated land management, lack of the technical infrastructure required for PA in orchards had the highest priority. Also, shortage of PA researches and the gap between research and extension, poor management of gardeners in the use of precision agricultural technologies, lack of providing consulting services to gardeners were identified as the least priority. Exploratory factor analysis results have demonstrated the exploitation of four factors, including investment and supportive, structural, human resource development and supply, finally organizational and program challenges.

In the development stages of any country, poverty reduction, increase in income balance, social welfare, and the reduction of unemployment are the most important factors which should be improved to implement development programs more successfully. Agricultural cooperatives (ACs) can play a significant role in the economic and social development of rural areas. ACs established 85 years ago in the Garmsar region of Iran for the first time; however, its form gradually changed from traditional form to a new one. They are social, economic, and ethical organizations that can play a very important role in creating employment in rural areas by attracting the participation of members, raising small capital, and providing agricultural extension training, infrastructures, and production factors. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effect of various functions of ACs on sustainable rural employment. In this regard, 356 samples were selected from the study area (i.e. Garmsar, Iran). A survey study was conducted to collect data through field interviews. Modeling based on structural analysis showed that the social, educational, economic and production functions had positive and significant effects so that they were able to predict and explain 66

In spite of the scarcity of water resources, the farmers' competitions to use water resources and their insistence on it have resulted in the occurrence of conflict and the tragedy of the common resources. Conflict may have both positive and negative aspects. If the conflict resolutions are correctly understood, its causes and effects can be managed. The objective of this study was to investigate the causes and effects of water conflict in Damavand, Iran using structural modeling method. The research method was a relational causal study. Results revealed that water conflict can be attributed to different causes categorized into interdependent climatic, managerial, social, agronomical, and educational factors, among which the climatic factor was found to include the most important causes. These causes have had positive or negative impacts.

The purpose of this study was to analyze effects of using Farmer Field School (FFS) on the economic, social, production, and knowledge status of greenhouse owners in Tehran Province and surrounding, Iran. The research method was a comparative causal study. The statistical population was composed of 80 greenhouse owners who had participated in FFS program as treatment group and 716 owners who had not participated in this program, as the control group. Sample size for non-participant group was determined to be 152 people using the Cochran formula. They were chosen by simple random sampling method. The results of comparative tests indicate that the two groups significantly differ in crop marketability, job creation, production risk, cooperation, participation in social organizations and entities, use of macro and micro fertilizers, application of organic fertilizers, application of pesticides, and technical knowledge of safe crop production. However, there were no significant differences in annual income, marketing, and crop yield. The structural analysis also indicates that the FFS program has had some positive effects on participants in economic, social, production, and knowledge aspects.

The aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting knowledge and attitude of farmers toward relative advantage of crops in Garmsar County. The study was performed by causal-relative method. The population of this research was 13825 farmers in Garmsar County, which 380 was estimated as sample size by Morgan Table. The main tool of the study was a questionnaire, which its validity was confirmed by a panel of faculty members and the reliability was obtained by pilot test. The result showed that most of farmers toward crop farming of advantage relative were lowermiddle knowledge, but uppermiddle attitude. Results of the logit analysis of factors affecting knowledge of farmers toward relative advantage of crops farming showed that level of literacy, number of attendance in extension classes, number of extension visits had positive impacts, but contact to extension agent had negative impact. Results of the logit analysis of factors affecting on attitude also showed that level of literacy, number of attendance in extension classes, number of extension visits and farming income in past year had positive impacts, but contact to extension agents and number of land plot holding farmer had negative impact.

Microcredit scheme is an important poverty alleviation method that facilitates the development of rural communities by creating and developing income-generating activities, especially for low-income women. The present study was aimed to examine the effectiveness of the microcredit fund scheme on the economic empowerment of rural women in Tehran Province, Iran. It was carried out by a survey methodology. The statistical population was composed of 461 women who were members of 15 rural microcredit funds in Tehran Province in 2014. The sample size was determined by Krejcie and Morgan table and the population was sampled by the proportionate simple random method. Finally, 210 questionnaires were collected. The results revealed significant differences in economic capability between member women with different educational levels. Also, rural women’s economic capability differed significantly in income, saving power, saving management, initiation of income-generating lasting occupations, financial independence, purchase power, possession of vocational skills to start and continue a production activity, and economic skills before and after membership in rural microcredit funds.