Structural Analysis of Evolutions in Agricultural Activities in Rural Areas: The Case of Markazi Province in Central Iran

Zabihi Siamak (), Hosseini Seyed Jamal Farajollah (), Mirdamadi Seyed Mehdi () and Amini Abbas ()
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Zabihi Siamak: Ph.D. Student, Department of Economic, Agricultural Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Hosseini Seyed Jamal Farajollah: Associate Professor, Department of Economic, Agricultural Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Mirdamadi Seyed Mehdi: Associate Professor, Department of Economic, Agricultural Extension and Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Amini Abbas: Associate Prof. of Geography and Rural Planning, Dept. Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan.

Management Theory and Studies for Rural Business and Infrastructure Development, 2021, vol. 43, issue 3, 390-402

Abstract: This study considers the evolutionary trend of agricultural functionalities in rural areas of Markazi Province in central Iran over the last decade. The province is the most and heavily industrialized region across the country, accomplished with urbanized settling and life style and declination in rurality, both functionally and structurally. This study aims to evaluate the evolutions of agricultural functionalities in rural areas of the region. All of the villages more populated than 20 households in during 2003 and 2014 were studied. The similar agricultural variables in the two time periods were utilized as data set and 10 indicators for each section were defined, calculated, and considered. Followed by the statistical description and examining the distributions of the indicators, the evolution of agricultural activities in the region was separately modelled for each of time sections through Structural Equation Modeling. The path structure of the first model revealed that the agricultural functionality of the studied area has at the beginning time mainly been based on farming – rather than gardening – and based on land resources – rather than water resources. As well, the results of the ending model indicated that land has been replaced by water. Also, the declining trend of changes during the studied period was significantly influenced by water. Therefore, it is absolutely essential to establish an integrated organizational structure for policy regulation and decision-making for land and water resources, along with a provincial governance to implement the policies and decisions beyond the sectoral approach. This could possibly help to mitigate the problems encountered by the agricultural sector in rural communities of the study area.

Keywords: Agricultural Functionality; Structural Equation Modeling (SEM); Rural Communities; Markazi Province; Central Iran (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C10 C65 Q10 Q15 R11 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:mtrbid:v:43:y:2021:i:3:p:390-402:n:6

DOI: 10.15544/mts.2021.36

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