Abstract:
The close connection and dependency of agricultural activities on the natural environment have always been the main factor of production in rural areas, and with the occurrence of natural hazards, the agricultural production of villagers is exposed to threats. Therefore, farmers take actions to reduce the harmful effects of natural hazards or cope with them. Given the importance of risk management in agricultural activities, this research attempts to take steps in identifying the obstacles and factors affecting risk management, reducing the hazards of agricultural activities, improving activities, and enhancing the quality of life for villagers. In the present study, in order to achieve this goal, a descriptive-analytical and field method was used, and the required information was collected in two forms: documentary and field. The statistical population of the research consists of 2828 rural households in Raz and Jergelan counties, from which 300 households were selected as the sample using the Cochran formula, and then the data extracted from the questionnaire were analyzed and tested in the SPSS software environment. The results of the hypothesis testing, conducted through Spearman correlation, Chi-square, Pearson, and mean comparison tests such as Friedman, Mann-Whitney, and McNemar, show that obstacles such as land slope, land quality, land erosion rate, instability in product prices, and problems accessing machinery show a significant relationship with the risk management of agricultural activities. Furthermore, by examining the factors influencing the risk of agricultural activities, it was determined that the impact of age and experience, income, education, land area, level of participation in extension and training classes on the components of agricultural risk management has a significant relationship at a high and acceptable confidence level. Additionally, the results of the mean comparison tests show a significant difference between mountainous and plain villages, such that mountainous villages do not have an acceptable agricultural risk management compared to plain villages. Therefore, mountainous villages are more vulnerable than plain villages in terms of agricultural activities.
Machine summary:
Factors affecting the risk management of agricultural activities in the villages of Raz and Jergelan counties Aliyakbar Najafikani *; Associate Professor of Geography and Rural Planning, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.
The results obtained from hypothesis testing, using Spearman correlation, Chi-square, Pearson, and mean comparison tests such as Friedman, Mann-Whitney, and McNemar, show that obstacles such as land slope, land quality, land erosion rate, instability in product prices, and problems accessing machinery show a significant relationship with the risk management of agricultural activities.
Also, by examining the factors affecting the risk of agricultural activities, it was determined that the impact of age and experience, income, education, land area, and the level of participation in extension and training classes has a significant relationship with the components of risk management of agricultural activities at a high and acceptable confidence level.
(1) Investigation of the relationship between participation in extension classes and the variables affecting it {Refer to the attached table file} According to Table No. 2, in the first stage of the research, 12 important and influential components in risk management were identified based on expert opinions, and their effect magnitude was ranked using the Friedman correlation test.
(3) Comparison of the mean of natural and human obstacles and challenges facing agricultural risk management using Friedman {Refer to the attached table file} The results obtained from the Spearman correlation analysis to explain the relationship between land area limitation and agricultural risk management indicate that components such as plowing quality show a significant relationship with land area limitation at a 99 percent confidence level.
(
, 
, 
)
