Analysis of the spatial effects of the presence of immigrants in Sistan and Baluchistan province in the Rural s around Feyzabad

Mahmoudreza Mirlotfi1, Zahra Mehdizadeh2

1- (Corresponding author), Department of Geography, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran.



2- Department of Geography, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran.



Abstract

Investigating the spatial effects of interprovincial migrants in the destination lands is of great importance in rural planning. For this reason, the present study aims to determine the spatial effects of the presence of rural migrants from Sistan-Baluchestan province in the villages surrounding the city of Feyzabad in Mahvelat county. This study is based on a descriptive-survey method and is practical in terms of its purpose. Documentary and field methods were used to collect information. The statistical population of this study is 5304 households of native and migrant residents in 9 villages in the city of Feyzabad. The sample size of the study was determined based on the Cochran formula of 358, and considering the 6% migrant population, 337 native households and 21 migrant households were randomly selected as research samples. Descriptive statistics (mean, percentage, and standard deviation) as well as inferential tests, including a one-sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS software, were used to analyze the data. The t-test results showed that the impact of the presence of immigrants on the spatial dimensions of the studied villages was higher than the theoretical median of 3. Among them, the economic dimension had the highest spatial effect, with an average of 3.51, and the physical dimension had the lowest spatial effect, with an average of 3.26. The results of the variance analysis also showed differences in spatial effects at the level of the villages studied. In addition, the Spearman test results indicate a direct (0.789) and significant (sig. = 0.000) relationship between the number of immigrants and the spatial-physical expansion of the studied villages.



Keywords: Rural Migrants, Sistan and Baluchestan Migrants, Spatial Effects of Migration, Fayzabad Villages, Mahvelat.



Extended Abstract

Introduction

In general, the presence of migrants has an impact on the economic, social, physical, and environmental dimensions of the destination areas. One of the forms of population dynamics in Iran is interprovincial migration, in which most provinces have created the Iranian migration flow by sending migrants and some by receiving migrants. Sistan and Baluchestan, being at the bottom of the country's development ranking tables and the emergence of environmental problems, especially in the water sector, in recent decades has led to the expansion of outbound migration. Among the destinations of interest for migrants are the villages of Feyzabad County and Khorasan Razavi Province. The presence of migrants in these villages has had various spatial effects. In this regard, the present study seeks to answer the following questions:

-The presence of rural migrants from Sistan and Baluchestan Province has had the most significant impact on which spatial dimension of the villages surrounding the city of Feyzabad?

-What is the relationship between the presence of rural migrants from Sistan and Baluchestan Province and the spatial-physical expansion of the villages surrounding the city of Feyzabad?



Methodology

The nature of this research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of method and nature, and documentary and field methods were used to collect information. To assess the extent of the impact on the spatial dimensions of villages, native households (as the control group) and immigrants in 9 villages (Hematabad, Abdolabad, Hassanabad, Kheirabad, Mehneh, Fathabad, Miandeh, Jannatabad and Shamsabad) were considered. The same conditions of the two groups in terms of rural space and lifestyle will show a difference that indicates the extent of the spatial impact of each group. The statistical population of this research for the two groups of native and immigrant residents is 5304 households living in 9 villages with immigrants from the functions of Feyzabad in the central part of Mahvelat county. By confirming the normal distribution of the data, descriptive statistics (mean, percentage, and standard deviation) and inferential tests in the form of a one-sample T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in SPSS software to analyze the data. Using a one-sample T-test, each spatial dimension was compared, and the spatial effects of the presence of immigrants in the studied villages were analyzed using the analysis of variance test.



Results and discussion

The results of the t-test showed spatial effects in all four dimensions above with a value higher than the theoretical median of 3. In this regard, the highest effect level was related to the economic dimension (3.51), and the lowest level was related to the physical dimension (3.26), which had a significance level of less than 0.01. The study of the indigenous and immigrant communities living in the villages under study also confirms the spatial effect of the presence of immigrants in the villages with a mean of over 3 and a significance level of less than 0.01 for the assumption of inequality of variance in the Levin and t-tests. To accomplish this, the influential components of the space of the studied villages in economic, social, environmental, and physical dimensions were identified and evaluated with appropriate tests. Most migrations in different regions of the world have been hierarchical from bottom to top or from small to large settlement centers. The present study is about the spatial impact of rural migrants who go from one province's lower regions to another province's lower regions or villages. The findings of the study indicate the spatial impact of these migrants on different dimensions of the destination villages.



Conclusion

According to the research findings, the presence of rural migrants has the most significant impact on the economic spatial dimension of the studied villages, followed by the social, environmental, and physical spatial dimensions. In addition, the results of the Spearman test indicate a significant and positive relationship between the number of migrants living in villages and the spatial-physical expansion of the studied villages.



Funding

This article is extracted from a master's thesis and has no funding support.



Authors’ Contribution

The authors had equal contributions in all stages and parts of the research.