Agriculture
Arash Dourandish; Mohammadreza Ramezani; Milad Aminizadeh
Abstract
Saffron is one of the most important agricultural and export products whose production is the main source of income in many rural areas in east of the country. However, the yield of saffron farms decreased by almost 36% during 1971-2015. The Gonabad county in the Khorasan Razavi province as one of the ...
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Saffron is one of the most important agricultural and export products whose production is the main source of income in many rural areas in east of the country. However, the yield of saffron farms decreased by almost 36% during 1971-2015. The Gonabad county in the Khorasan Razavi province as one of the largest saffron producers in Iran also faces this problem. Evidences suggest that the high use of chemical inputs, especially chemical fertilizers, can be considered as one of the main causes of yield decrease. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effective factors on use of chemical fertilizers with an emphasis on the role of attitude and awareness of saffron producers. In order to achieve the research objectives, 105 questionnaires were completed based on proportional random sampling and an ordered logit model was carried out. The results showed that two variables of farmers’ attitude towards sustainable agriculture and awareness about yield-reducing factors have negative and significant effects on the probability of chemical fertilizer use. While the variables of farmers’ income, age, education and agricultural insurance have positive and significant effect on the probability of chemical fertilizer use. Therefore, undertaking appropriate policies in order to boost farmers’ attitude towards sustainable agricultural practices and increase the awareness of farmers about the negative and long-term effects of excessive use of chemical fertilizers, encouraging trusted and experienced farmers to reduce the use of fertilizers and reconsidering the content of training courses have a decisive role in enhancing the pattern of chemical fertilizers use.
Economics and Marketing
Arash Dourandish; Milad Aminizadeh; Andisheh Riahi; Elham Mehrparvar Hosseini
Abstract
Saffron is one of Iran’s exports of agricultural products that it could not keep and strengthen its position in the world market at recent years. Two events such as European Union trade sanctions against Iran (2006-2014) and global economic crisis (2007-2009) have directly and indirectly impacts ...
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Saffron is one of Iran’s exports of agricultural products that it could not keep and strengthen its position in the world market at recent years. Two events such as European Union trade sanctions against Iran (2006-2014) and global economic crisis (2007-2009) have directly and indirectly impacts on Iran’s economy and trade flows, respectively. According to process uncertainty about the abolition or continuation of the European Union trade sanctions and the possibility of a new global economic crisis, the aim of this paper is assessing the role of these two factors on Iran’s saffron exports. For this purpose, saffron exports to trading partners were analyzed by using gravity model and poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimator in 2001-2014 periods. Based on the results, economic size, importer’s income and regional trade agreement have positive effect and distance and difference in GDP per capita have negative and significant impacts on saffron exports. The Results indicated that EU trade sanctions and global economic crisis have significantly negative effects on Iran’s saffron exports. In other words, due to Iran’s trading partners, global economic crisis have important role in saffron exports. Therefore, it is suggested that role of trade sanctions and economic crisis and their importance be considered to adopt long run strategic plan in order to strengthen Iran’s position in saffron world market and optimal basket of trading partners to be selected.
