Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1
1. PhD student in Agricultural Economics, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Mazandaran, Iran
2
3. Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kurdistan, Kurdistan, Iran.
3
3. Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kurdistan, Kurdistan, Iran
4
4. Master student of economic development and planning, Department of Economics, Payam Noor University, West Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
population growth and increased human need for food have increased the demand for agricultural products. Sustainable agriculture is a farming method that emphasizes long-term sustainability with minimal impact on the environment. Therefore, in order to achieve sustainable agriculture, it is necessary to identify indicators and criteria of sustainability and make a real assessment of the situation in order to measure sustainability or instability based on the criteria of sustainable agriculture. this study has been evaluated and compared the sustainability of agriculture and ranking selected cities of Semnan province (Semnan, Sorkheh and Mehdishahr) according to the level of sustainability by using criteria consisting of environmental, social and economic multi-criteria decision-making criteria.
Materials and Methods
This research is descriptive-analytical with applied nature. The method of collecting survey data is library. In the analysis process, while using quantitative data from organizations and statistics, experts' opinions have also been used. The selection of questioned people has been done in a stratified and quota manner, and in this method random selection of people should be strictly avoided. There are various methods to evaluate sustainability, but the most efficient ones are based on the explanation of various criteria and indicators. Evaluation of agricultural sustainability in Semnan, Mahdishahr and Sorkheh cities in the form of three social, economic and environmental criteria and each of them includes several sub-criteria which is carried out through the Shannon entropy method of weighting them and then through Vikor Bin method. The agricultural sustainability of these three cities is evaluated.
Results and Discussion
Based on the results obtained from the three criteria considered in the agricultural sustainability evaluation section, the environmental criterion with a final weight of 0.52 has won the highest score, followed by the economic criterion with a weight of 0.3 in the second place and the social criterion with a value of 0.17 has the lowest weight of the criterion in the evaluation of agricultural sustainability. According to the obtained results, among the environmental sub-criteria, the chemical fertilizer distribution sub-criteria with a weight of 0.101 and the consumption of poisons with a weight of 0.097 and also the sub-criteria of efficient irrigation systems with a weight of 0.081 are the most important and Soil fertility sub-criterion with a weight of 0.050 has the least importance in agricultural sustainability. In other words, by reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and at the same time, increasing the efficient use of new irrigation systems, which is one of the basic solutions to deal with water scarcity in terms of increasing the efficiency of irrigation, it increases the level of agricultural sustainability. to be Among the economic sub-criteria, the sub-criterion of water economic efficiency with a weight of 0.076 and yield of agricultural products with a weight of 0.062 is the most important, and the sub-criterion of the income ratio of rural to urban households with a weight of 0.032 is the least important. Among the sub-criteria of the social index, the sub-criterion of forming sustainability promotion classes (education) with a weight of 0.067 is the most important and the sub-criterion of population density with a weight of 0.028 has the least role in the sustainability of agriculture. The high importance of farmers' awareness of sustainable farming systems means that the higher the amount of this awareness in the direction of sustainability, the more it will increase with the formation of extension classes and necessary trainings, and it will have the greatest impact on the sustainability of agriculture. Sorkheh city with an area of 9222 square kilometers is in the first place, Semnan with an area of 11017 square kilometers is in the second place and Mahdishahr city is in the third place with an area of 1943 square kilometers in terms of sustainable agriculture.
Conclusion
In general, the results of this research make it possible to know the importance of different parameters affecting sustainability, to evaluate sustainability and to compare the cities of Semnan province with appropriate accuracy, so that an effective step can be taken in applying appropriate policies to improve the sustainability of agriculture.
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