Identification and ranking of Factors Affecting Agricultural Land Allocation in Mahidasht Plain from the perspective of farmers and experts

Identification and ranking of Factors Affecting Agricultural Land Allocation in Mahidasht Plain from the perspective of farmers and experts



Extended abstract

Objectives: Deciding on land use and ownership has the potential to enhance empowerment, sustainability of livelihoods, food production and social status. Just as poor land-based decisions can also lead to consolidation, poverty, inequality and disability. Land use allocation is the issue of decision allocation of resources that assesses the suitability of each land unit for various land use options. These results indicate that land allocation has, in the past, been tasteful, unplanned and based on political and economic conditions. Land use allocation is the issue of decision allocation of resources that assesses the suitability of each land unit for various land use options. Therefore, it is important to identify the effective factors in the allocation of agricultural land. Since Mahidasht plain is one of the most important agricultural fields in Kermanshah province, the purpose of this study is Identification and ranking of Factors Affecting Agricultural Land Allocation in Mahidasht Plain.

Methods: objective of this study was to determine the components and subcomponents in utility function of optimum allocation of agricultural lands. In this study, we selected a sample of crop experts, crop management experts, extension coordination management, water and soil management, land management, Provincial Land Use Committee, Mahidasht Service Center and local farmers. Were. Then, purposive sampling with snowball sampling technique was used to select the experts. Purposeful sampling was also used to select the farmers with a prominent sampling technique. With over 30 examples of samples, instant saturation was achieved and the articles were simplified. In this study, in-depth and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The process of data collection was that each interview took about 20 to 30 minutes on average. The paper begins with an open-ended question about what factors influence the farmer's decision on what type of land to cultivate. In order to analyze the data in this study, according to the nature of the research, traditional content analysis method was used. Therefore, in this study, in order to determine the effective components and sub-components in agricultural land allocation, the content of interviews was analyzed using three stages of open, axial and selective coding. To facilitate the data analysis process, these three coding steps were performed in the Maxqda software environment. In the quantitative section, in order to rank and weigh the components and sub-components effective in the allocation of agricultural lands, a pairwise comparison analysis based on hierarchical analysis and Expert Choice software was used.

Results: In the open coding phase in the Maxqda software environment, 45 concepts were extracted that, according to the interviewees, these concepts are effective sub-components in agricultural land allocation. Also these concepts in axial coding fall into 6 broad categories or concepts that are effective components in agricultural land allocation. The identified factors were categorized into 6 categories by Maxqda software includes: economic, human, social-cultural, political, natural and physical factors. The qualitative analysis showed that seven factors (economic, natural, human, political, technical, socio-cultural) were determinant in the optimum allocation of agricultural land in Mahidasht Watershed Plain. Also, the results of ranking and weighting of indicators using hierarchical analysis and Expert Choice software showed that the most important effective factors in allocating agricultural lands based on their weight are: economic dimensions (0.254), political dimensions, respectively. (0.184), human dimensions (0.156), natural dimensions (0.142).

Discussion: The results of the analysis of the interviews showed that the economic component is one of the effective factors in the decision making of farmers regarding the allocation of agricultural land. Interestingly, most farmers cited income, profit and crop prices as economic components as the main condition for cultivation of any crop. On the other hand, the results showed that human factors are another effective factor in allocation of agricultural land in the study area. The results of interviews with farmers showed that access to labor force, especially family workforce, human potential and productivity of manpower play an important role in their decision making regarding agricultural land allocation. The results of the analysis of interviews with farmers showed that one of the effective factors in the allocation of agricultural land is natural factors. In this regard, rainfall, which is a natural component, is the main condition for cultivation, especially for dry crop cultivation. In other words, the amount of rainfall per year determines how much rainfed crop yields will be. According to the findings, the average temperature is also one of the natural components that is effective in the allocation of agricultural land. On the other hand, the results of the content analysis indicated that socio-cultural factors are one of the effective factors in the allocation of agricultural land in Mahidasht plain. If the average consumption of products in the community and the particular tendency for one or more crops has an effective role in the allocation of agricultural land. Other factors affecting the allocation of agricultural land among the farmers of Mahidasht Plain were political factors. The results of this study can support land use planning and policy making and be provided to land users as a decision support system.

Key words: Optimal allocation, allocation of agricultural lands, agricultural lands, Mahidasht plain

Maxqda



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