درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose- Due to the dewatering of Karun Dam, the village of Southern Donbaleh Roud of Izeh County has been surrounded by water since 2004 until now and has been deprived of services and amenities and communication. Moreover, their access to the cities of Dehdez and Izeh has been limited. Given the importance of the issue, the aim of this study is to assess and evaluate the sustainability of development in rural areas of Southern Donbaleh Roud District. Design/methodology/approach- This research is based on the applied purpose and has an analytical- descriptive nature. Required data were collected using library and field (questionnaire) method. The area under study includes 18 villages and 1460 households. The sample size was estimated based on Cochran formula of 300 family guardians and the questionnaires were distributed among them. To analyze the data from the questionnaire, the Prometheus model (in the visual Prometheus software environment) and the fuzzy inference system (in MATLAB software) were used. Finding- Based on the Prometheus model, the villages are ranked according to three positive (Phi+), negative (Phi-) and pure flows. The villages with the highest positive minimum negative flows are in the first place, and the villages with the least positive and the most negative flows are at the last place of development sustainability. The results obtained from the Fuzzy inference system also indicate that the sustainability of the studied rural area is between the medium and low levels. Originality/value - There have been a lot of changes in spatial organization of the studied villages due to water logging of the villages. These changes have created disruptions in the system and functioning of the settlements and have affected the quality of life and wellbeing of the inhabitants. Because the construction of dams has destroyed the communicative routes between villages and the city, agricultural lands and gardens, schools, rural healthcare centers, residential houses, provincial villages and… and the villages have been left behind the dam so far. Therefore, considering the special circumstances of these settlements, the problems of these villages have been scientifically examined and addressed to planners and officials. Because, through this, the authorities and development experts gain knowledge about the opportunities and capabilities, limitations and impasse of the villages.

Purpose- One of the most important strategies facing drought and agriculture water shortage in North-West Iran is developing pressurized irrigation systems (PISs). In this regard, the present study aims to investigate the factors determining the adoption of the PISs by farmers in Ardabil Province. Design/methodology/approach- First, by drought zoning of Ardabil Province (by SPI method and GIS software), three regions including regions with mild, moderate and severe drought levels were determined. In the second step, using multi-stage cluster sampling, adopter and non-adopter farmers of the PISs were selected from three regions of study (n= 415). Also, the logistic regression was used to determine the affective and distinctive factors of farmers' groups. Findings- According to the results of logistic regression analysis, the predictive power of model was 0.622 and the sensitivity of the regression model to determine the model validation was obtained as 85.8%. Also, from among 17 factors of study, 7 factors of education level, farm income, knowledge about the PISs, the infrastructure for PISs, the effect of local weather conditions, the trust towards the optimality of PISs and the improvement in farm water management, positively impacted on the adoption and use of PISs. Among effective factors, knowledge about the PISs (Wald: 32.676), the trust towards the optimality of PISs (Wald: 27.855) and the infrastructure for PISs (Wald: 21.648) were the most important factors predicting to the decision to adopt and use PISs among farmers. Research limitations/implications- Since the study was carried out in a large area of the province, accessing the farmers and experts in the Ardabil Province was difficult and time consuming. Practical implications- The agricultural extension and education programs and PRA method, can provide the basis for the adoption of PISs among most of the farmers. Also, the infrastructure programs for the implementation and setting up of PISs are the priority of governmental projects to develop the PISs in the regions of the study. Originality/value- It seems that identifying and providing the necessary infrastructure for implementing pressurized irrigation programs should be based on the scientific needs assessment of the agricultural fields’ conditions in different regions. Also, proper the appropriate government funding and financial support for the appropriate infrastructure of PISs will increase the willingness of farmers to adopt and use of the PISs.