Agricultural waste management is one of the important issues that agricultural producers should consider to increase their income and environmental protection. Therefore, the investigation of factors that reduce the rate of agricultural production wastage as well as citrus production wastage is of utmost consequence in order to manage wastes, reduce environmental degradation and ecosystem destruction, and increase food security and economic growth. Inspired by this assumption, the aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting citrus waste production in Mazandaran Province, Northern Iran (N= 7867). A stratified random sampling method was employed to collect data from 165 farmers. The main tool to collect data was a self-designed questionnaire whose content validity was approved by a panel of experts and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and its reliability was confirmed by calculating a Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α ≥ 0.7).The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that socioeconomic and technical factors altogether accounted for 60.257% of variances in citrus production wastage. Manuscript profile

The role of nutrition in the health area, increasing efficiencyand its relationship with economic development has been approved through extensive research in the world using scientificfoundations and empirical evidence. Therefore, accessing tofood security is the basic pillar of development. The mainpurpose of this study was to investigate the role of socioeconomicfactors affecting the food security of rural households inNahavand County, Iran. The statistical population consisted of26599 rural households of Nahavand County that 255 peoplewere selected using Cochran formula and stratified randomsampling technique. A questionnaire was used to data collection,which its validity was confirmed by a panel of faculty membersin the University of Tehran and its reliability was confirmedby Cronbach's alpha which its range was 0.72 to 0.91 fordifferent sections of the questionnaire. Data analysis was performedin two parts of descriptive and inferential statisticsusing the software SPSS21. Results showed that the differencein various levels of household income in terms of food insecuritylevels was statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The resultsof logit regression (probit) analysis suggested that variables ofdecision-making ability, nutritional awareness of head of thehousehold and the household income have the greatest impacton rural households’ food security. Manuscript profile

Nowadays, the concept of sustainability assessment in agricultural entrepreneurship is one of the most prominent research subjects among researchers and policymakers. Although there are numerous sustainability assessment frameworks for agricultural enterprises, the selection of sufficient indicators is still a matter of debate. This study aimed to fill this gap with an emphasis on applicability by adopting a descriptive-analytical survey using the Delphi method. To this end, a conceptual framework for the identification of components, criteria, and indicators of sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship was first developed. Then, a set of indices capable of signifying the status of sustainability in agricultural entrepreneurship activities in rural areas of the Kurdistan Province, Iran, were extracted using the opinions of a panel of experts, consisting of 30 local entrepreneurs, university instructors, and experts on agriculture. Data collected from the panel was analyzed by fuzzy TOPSIS, as a multi-criteria decision-making method. The results revealed the indicators of the sustainability assessment framework for agricultural enterprises in the study area. The ultimate objective of this study was to discuss and test the proposed framework to broaden its applicability to similar regions. Manuscript profile

This research was carried out to investigate the role of non-farming activities in the sustainability of peasant farming systems in Osku County by a descriptive-correlational research method. The research population consisted of peasant farmers in Osku County (N =1400), out of whom 300 people were sampled based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table for sample size determination using the proportionate stratified sampling technique. Data were analyzed by SPSS win18 software. The main instrument of data collection was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by experts. The reliability of the main scales of the instrument was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was in the range of 0.82-0.87. The results of analyzing three dimensions of sustainability showed that, in total, 29.3 percent of the farming units were "unsustainable", 41.7 percent were "semi-sustainable", and 28.9 percent were "sustainable". Based on the regression analysis, the variables of the number of people employed in the non-farming sector, the use of non-farming income in the agricultural sector, and household income out of non-farming activities accounted for 54.2 percent of the variations in sustainability level of the peasant farming systems. Manuscript profile

Khuzestan Province, especially Karun County, is one of the main pillars of date production in Iran. According to the limitations of date palm production in this county, optimal production management, and the efficient use of production inputs are required. The main goal of this study was to calculate the technical efficiency of date palm cultivators’ management in the whole Karun, as well as the cities in this County including four cities, using a non-parametric approach such as the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. 200 date palm cultivators were selected as samples across the region, 50 date palm cultivators from each city in April 2017 till February 2018. The results showed that Rabie and Shirin-Shahr cities have the most efficient and non-efficient date palm cultivators’ management, respectively. The average efficiency under constant returns to scale assumption was 100 percent, the variable returns to scale input-oriented and output-oriented in Rabie city were 100 and 100 percent, and in Shirin-Shahr city, the average efficiency under constant returns to scale was 97.56 percent, the variable returns to scale input-oriented and output-oriented were 98.69 and 98.04 percent, respectively. In Karun County, the average efficiency under constant returns to scale was 96.62 percent, the variable returns to scale input-oriented and output-oriented efficiencies were 98.66 and 97.57 percent, respectively. In this region, cultivators’ management efficiency can be increased by increasing the awareness and skills of date palm cultivators and educating them in terms of optimal use of inputs. Manuscript profile

Nutrition is recognized as both an input to and a result of sustainable development, where agricultural production also plays an undeniable role. Alborz, one of the major provinces of Iran, faces several issues that have been adversely affecting its food security over the years and the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture been has deemed to be a necessity to alleviate these problems. The research in hand investigates the interventions affecting the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture production in Alborz Province and structures a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) analysis to prioritize these interventions, as well as identifying the best implementation strategy to be followed in the area of the study. To achieve this goal, the Analytical Network Process (ANP) has been employed. Based on library and documentary studies and interviews with experts and authorities, the structure of the ANP model has been developed and pairwise comparisons have been made. Results indicate that income generation for nutrition was the most important intervention, followed by nutrition-sensitive post-harvest handling, storage and processing. Decision makers and authorities should dedicate more attention to these aspects in the implementation of nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Alborz Province. Also, a long term (6-20 years) implementation strategy has been found to be a better alternative to target and plan for by the decision-makers and authorities. Manuscript profile

The main purpose of this survey was to assess biomass production and use as a source of energy by smallholders in Tafresh County located in Markazi Province, Iran. A descriptive survey method was used for data collection. The statistical population consisted of 2,470 smallholders. A sample size of 300 was selected by using the stratified random sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. The Cronbach alpha's coefficient was higher than 0.75 for the main scales of the questionnaire. The results showed that the residues of plants and animals are recognized as a potential source of renewable energy, but there exists no specific policy or technical instruction for their optimal use, particularly in organizations such as Agriculture Jihad. Therefore, many farmers burn a considerable amount of firewood without being aware of its potential use. Findings revealed that “diversification of productive activities” had the greatest influence on the use of biomass energy, and the variables “annual cost of gas at home” and “animal farming experience” were ranked the 2nd and 3rd most important factors influencing the dependent variable, respectively. Manuscript profile