چکیده:
Agricultural sustainability refers to the ability of a cropping system to produce, without causing irreversible damage to
the ecosystem. There is an increasing need to view cropping systems and identify management practices in a holistic
indicator-based impact assessment. The main objective of this study was to compare and rank the cropping systems of the
Marvdasht plain in Fars Province; in order to show the gap between them. To achieve this aim, sustainability were divided
into four levels based on Composite Index(CI),which is useful for the identification of sustainability and includes three
dimension: (1) economical, (2) social, and (3) environmental and consist of 11 indicators. Required data were collected by
questionnaire from 200 cropping farmers who were selected through a stratified sampling design from six regions located
in Marvdasht plain. The computer software of SPSS was used to analyse the data. Indicators were normalized using the
division by means technique and were weighted. The weightings were derived from Principal Component Analysis
(PCA). CI was used to map the sustainability levels at the plain. According to classifying CI, four categories were
identified, which zone 6 identified as being unsustainable, while two zones 2 and 3 were considered as belonging to the
relatively unsustainable and the zone 5 was identified as relatively sustainable and the remaining zones (1,4) were
classified as sustainable. We conclude that the usage of multidimensional and holistic CI for analysing sustainability of
complex cropping systems is extremely important.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"Iravani*, Zh. Daneshvar Ameri, Kh. Kalantari Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran Received: 31 May 2015; Received in revised form: 23 June 2015; Accepted: 29 August 2015 Abstract Agricultural sustainability refers to the ability of a cropping system to produce, without causing irreversible damage to the ecosystem.
To achieve this aim, sustainability were divided into four levels based on Composite Index(CI),which is useful for the identification of sustainability and includes three dimension: (1) economical, (2) social, and (3) environmental and consist of 11 indicators.
There are new systems of agricultural sustainability indicators that stretch beyond the discrete measurement of environmental and economic conditions.
Economic perspectives on sustainable agriculture attempt to assign value to ecological parameters and include area under cultivation, agricultural productivity, and income earned from agriculture (Karami, 1995; Herzog and Gotsch, 1998; Pannell et al.
, 1999; Lyson, 1998; Glenn, 2000; Andreoli and Tellarini, 2000; Koeijer et al.
Providing an explicit conceptual framework for the CI before the selection of indicators, and the usefulness of multivariate analysis (PCA); to weight the individual indicators, allow for reduction of the number of individual indicators by aggregating them into a Composite Index (CI), which will enable comparisons of counties in specific dimensions regarding sustainability performance.
To assess sustainability of agricultural sector, indicators studied were: soil fertility, fertilizer application, pesticide application, water application, area cultivated, crop yeild, income, profit, employment, education programs, and farmers’ social situation.
It purpose of CI is to display performance of agricultural regions along all the three dimensions of sustainability: social, economic and environmental, in order to provide a good guidance for decision-making."