Agricultural Land Conversion Drivers in Northeast Iran: Application of Structural Equation Model

Azadi, Hossein; Barati, Ali Akbar; Rafiaani, Parisa; Raufirad, Valiollah; Zarafshani, Kiumars; Mamoorian, Mohsen; Van Passel, Steven; Lebailly, Philippe

doi:10.1007/s12061-015-9160-4

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Agricultural Land Conversion Drivers in Northeast Iran: Application of Structural Equation Model

Azadi, Hossein; Barati, Ali Akbar; Rafiaani, Parisa et al.

2016 • In Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 9 (4), p. 591–609

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/182627

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10.1007/s12061-015-9160-4

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Keywords :

Land use policy; Land use change; Land fragmentation; Urban sprawl; Multi-stakeholder analysis; Mixed-method

Abstract :

[en] Identifying driving forces behind agricultural land conversion (ALC) remains one of the most difficult challenges that agricultural and environmental scientists must continually deal with. The difficulty emerges from the fact that in ALC, multiple actions and interactions between different factors (i.e., economic, political, environmental, biophysical, institutional, and cultural) exist and make it difficult to understand the function of the processes behind the changes. The phenomenon of ALC in different countries is varied in terms of intensity, trends and drivers. The main goal of this study was to understand these drivers in Northeast Iran through applying structural equation model (SEM). Using multi-stage stratified random sampling, 101 executive officers participated in the study. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire. A multi-stakeholder analysis and a mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) approach were applied. Results revealed that not only from the policy makers’ perspective but also based on the SEM, "economic", "political", "technological", "social" and "environmental" factors should respectively be the five major drivers of ALC. The results also showed that among other drivers, "more profitability of non-agriculture sectors", "excessive rising of land prices", "farmers’ income instability", "land fragmentation", "urban sprawl" and "inheritance laws" are the main six causes of ALC. Hence, it can be concluded that policy-makers and planners need to take these drivers and subsidiaries more into consideration in order to properly respond to ALC.

Disciplines :

Agriculture & agronomy

Author, co-author :

Azadi, Hossein ; Université de Liège > Agronomie, Bio-ingénierie et Chimie (AgroBioChem) > Economie et développement rural

Barati, Ali Akbar

Rafiaani, Parisa

Raufirad, Valiollah

Zarafshani, Kiumars

Mamoorian, Mohsen

Van Passel, Steven

Lebailly, Philippe ; Université de Liège > Agronomie, Bio-ingénierie et Chimie (AgroBioChem) > Economie et développement rural

Language :

English

Title :

Agricultural Land Conversion Drivers in Northeast Iran: Application of Structural Equation Model

Publication date :

2016

Journal title :

Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy

ISSN :

1874-463X

eISSN :

1874-4621

Publisher :

Springer

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

591–609

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12061-015-9160-4

Available on ORBi :

since 09 June 2015

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