Economy

Todays, the importance of agricultural development and putting more value on it, unlike past days, is concluded from the fact that in the process of economic development program, an increasing attention is given to social welfare goals in addition to other goals of increasing revenue. In every society, at times of population increase, the increase of agricultural products, which is in direct relation with the rate of population increase, requires an increase of the productivity in existing lands relying on the improvement of farming techniques and irrigation systems. Basically, agricultural development means a transition of traditional techniques to modern industrial ways of production which includes top modern agricultural techniques like planting and harvest methods and the use of agricultural machinery. Agricultural mechanization is a new approach of providing the situation of promoting from traditional to modern agriculture. Additionally, it is considered as the most useful factor to help us achieve our goals of rural development. Machinery technology development is a matter of great importance in rural development strategies. Using technology in the process of rural development can lead to the elimination of barriers to production. As mechanization causes less difficulties and more money from agricultural activities, it makes farming more fascinating for villagers and stimulate them to continue their farming activities and prevent them continuously move to the cities. In this research, we are investigating possible consequences of mechanization and its effect on rural development of south Astarābād to find answers to the following questions:

This is an applied research which has been done using descriptive- analytical approach in a field study. For data analysis and interpretation, independent T test, Mann Whitney test, and the process of correlation analysis have been applied in SPSS software. Statistical population of the research consists of two types of agricultural households, a group of more mechanized households and another group of less mechanized ones, from 22 villages located in rural district of South Astarābād. A number of 10 villages (including 6 plain villages and 9 mountain villages) were chosen as sample society based on the total number of 6423 households and homogeneity of the villages in terms of geographical features. Using Cochran formula, the sample size of the society (190 households) was determined. Considering the population of each village, their participation in answering the questionnaires was determined. Questionnaires were delivered among different households in a simple random sampling way.

Discussion and conclusion
By its effect on timely agricultural operations and reducing production costs, agricultural mechanization plays an effective role in increasing revenues and consequently improving economic level and quality of life for agricultural uses. According to the results from the questionnaires a significant relation of a top confidence level (95 or 99%) is confirmed between agricultural mechanization with productivity and improvement of economic and social components. In this regard, the government plays a key role in the development of mechanization infrastructures such as integration, leveling, land drainage, giving low-interest loans and making decisions for agricultural institutions. Considering the fact that lower participation and self-help of operators and lack of education and awareness of the benefits of mechanization are the most important factors affecting the failure of the government and people in promoting mechanization, an overall management and programming by the government is inevitable to help us achieve our goals. The followings are suggested for the improvement of mechanization.

- Strong support of the government for infrastructure development of agricultural mechanization such as land consolidation, irrigation channels, land leveling and drainage, irrigation development, and construction of roads between farms;
- Reducing official bureaucracy and granting low-interest loans by banks to promote agricultural mechanization;
- Holding training and educational coursed for the introduction of proper use of machineries and their technology to the farmers.

According to general census in 2011, rural population of the country has been over 21 million and 603 thousand people. Considering the per capita monthly subsidy equivalent to 455,000 riyals, it can be resulted that in the first three years of the project, over 353 trillion has been allocated to rural community. Calculations show that this amount is equivalent to 2.4% of the total budget intended for this period of time. It was the first time that this amount of cash was being directly distributed among villagers by its cost and expenditure management being transferred to the families themselves. It seems that this method of paying subsidies has greatly influenced on economic and social status of rural communities.

Considering economic and cultural structure of rural societies together with attempts to remedy the lack of liquidity, a large amount of subsidies granted is spending for household livelihood expenses such as food, non-food and service expenses. Therefore, in this article we are intended to investigate the impacts of targeted subsidies on the current status of livelihood expenses of rural households in different social strata as well as making a comparison of targeted subsidies in two geographical areas (Kalat and Binalud). Generally, in this research we are trying to find answers to the questions that: 1) how is the position of natural resources, economic capital and people s income in rural areas of Kalat and Binalud (Torghabeh Shandiz)? 2) How did targeted subsidies affect to change patterns of livelihood expenses in different classes of rural areas in the County of Kalat and Binalud? And is there any significant difference between the two areas or not?

This research is an applied one which has been provided using the quantitative approach of descriptive-analytical. This is an exploratory research, as well. Basically, it has been done using the principals of survey researches which has investigated the effects of targeted subsidies (independent variable) on livelihood expenses of rural households (dependent variable) applying post event processing. This research has done in the two cities of Kalat and Binalud located in Khorasan Razavi. There are two reasons for choosing these cities. First, these are greatly influenced by their position i.e., they are located near the metropolitan County of Mashhad. Then, due to the border location of the two cities, not many researchers have concentrated on the matter of development in these areas, yet. So, due to the importance of environmental contrasts in geography, data analysis has been conducted using comparative approach that helped us study different aspects of the matter to determine and classify the role of different geographical foundations (including natural conditions, the distribution of basic economic resources, income, and social conditions) in class differences among rural groups. We have eventually compared the impact of paying subsidies on the increase of income and consequently on changing spending patterns of livelihood expenses by the residents of the two areas. Questionnaires providing in two types of qualitative and quantitative are being considered as the main tools of the study. Quantitative questions are mostly intended to answer the first question of the research which includes some issues of households' social features (population, age, gender, education) and economic resources (occupation, expenses and income, land, livestock, housing, and machinery resources). Qualitative questions aim at the investigation of changes in spending patterns by rural households to answer the second question arose in the research. This type of questions consist of 8 main components (food and non-food items, educational, medical, and healthcare expenses, communication services, tourism, Energy, agricultural institutions) of more than 54 reagents.

Discussion and conclusion
Emphasizing sustainable livelihoods approach, this research aims at analyzing consequences of targeted subsidies plan on the changes in spending patterns in different social strata of rural communities. Then, comparing the results in the two areas of Kalat and Binalud we will be able to examine the impact of geographical factors. As contrasting foundations of every natural area can be considered to be the basis of economic and social differences of different societies that may be changed later by the government policies. According to the survey, particular environmental situations and capacities of rural settlements in each of these areas has made different economic functions at regional level related to local communications and its connection with the metropolitan County of Mashhad. These factors are so much effective that each single one can cause long-time consolidation of special economic, social and cultural mechanisms in rural areas and geographical environments. There is no doubt that these factors firstly influence the economic business of the studied area. In Binalud, there are approximately 10 % of rich families by an average monthly income of higher than 20 million riyals which are owning of almost about 21% of economic resources. In return, the rest 70% of low-income families (less than 10 million riyals) are providing with 52% of economic resources. This situation indicates bigger class differences in this area.
The above mentioned indicators are not so much far from each other in Kalat. Additionally, different interactions and communications between urban and rural areas and their impacts on the households' livelihoods caused changes in spending patterns of rural households. Because,b 65% of Kalat villagers mentioned that, compared to the past, after receiving cash subsidies no change occurred in their spending. As an overall conclusion, the new method of targeted subsidies has relatively influenced the increase of income in lower social classes (about 15 to 25%) and somewhat moderated class differences. This factor has greatly affected spending patterns and made it improved, while it can be said that, due to the free price of subsidized goods, it didn’t lead to the sustainable livelihood of households.

One of the implemented plans in this case is the rural guide plan which is prepared and implemented by Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation since 1362. Guide plan, as an outer variable, has impacts on rural structures including these four dimensions: physical, economic, social and environmental. In villages of Kermanshah County, lack of educational, health care and business services along with inappropriateness of rural passages, lack of housing resistance against natural disasters and consequently the increase of migration from villages to cities lead to preparing and implementing guide plan in some villages. So, in this county the guide plan has been implemented in 7.40 percent of the region (56 villages) before 2012. It seems that its impacts have been less than what is expected and its implementation is limited to some changes in physical texture and economic factors have been less considered. Therefore, this study tries to answer this question that to what extent does guide plan implementation lead to physical and economic change in the studied villages? What kind of relation is between physical and economic impacts of the plan? And regarding situational and population factors, is there a meaningful difference in physical and economic impacts of guide plan implementation in the studied villages?

This study is a descriptive-analytical one, regarding its methodology. For data collection and recognizing the studied villages, documentary method and survey have been used. Since this study tries to recognize the impacts and the outcomes of guide plan implementation, it uses an assessment after implementation which is an approach that is different from the purpose. This approach ignores the considered purposes in the plans consciously and deliberately and it aims to study all the impacts and outcomes of the plan that are beyond its purposes. Based on theoretical basis and background, 21 items in physical dimension and 18 items in economic dimension were defined. The method of choosing the studied villages is a selective method and according to the judgment; for choosing them some indicators such as natural condition, population, distance from the county, and the number of projects that have been implemented and the time duration of the plan implementation (5 years and more) are considered. Statistical population includes 2467 households that are residents of the mentioned villages; by using Cochran Formula 332 households were obtained as sample size and at the end 340 households have been chosen. Sampling method in statistical population is classified randomly. For data description, this method uses descriptive statistics like mean, frequency, and percent and to analyze them, it uses Kruskal Wallis Test, Spearman Correlation Test, Nounally Method and Standard Deviation Distance from Mean.

Discussion and Conclusion
Guide plan implementation aims to provide facilities in a fair manner by creating social, welfare, production facilities, necessary facilities for rural housing improvement and creating environmental, public services and guiding the physical development of the villages. The study's findings show that in physical dimension, the most impact of the plan regarding the respondents' point of view, is the appropriate orientation of rural development and development of infrastructural services. Despite of some shortcomings in development of green space, locating the disposal of sewages and waste, results show that guide plan implementation has a partly desirable impact on physical change in the studied villages. The impact of the plan for orientation of rural development and development of infrastructural services was more remarkable. This finding reveals that direct and urgent impacts of the plan on physical environment of the village are positive. But some implementation weaknesses and institutional inconsistency can be considered as the causes of the mentioned shortcomings. Economic changes are followed by physical change in villages among them the price change for houses that are near to main road is remarkable. The analysis of effective factors on guide plan implementation showed that villages located in foothills, with more population and with 10-20 kilometers distance from Kermanshah, had more physical and economic changes; these findings can express the less flourished capabilities of these villages that are emerged by guide plan implementation. Regarding to this study results that were mentioned briefly, to improve the guide plan implementation in physical and economic dimensions in Kermanshah villages, some suggestions are as follow:
1. Considering the obtained means according to respondents' point of view, unhealthy way of sewage disposal creates an inappropriate condition in terms of environmental health in the studied villages.
2. Regarding to improvement of passages in most of the studied villages, there is an urgent need for providing necessary mechanisms to maintain these achievements through educating people.
3. regarding to existing problems in physical and economic impacts that are especially obvious in projects such as paving the passages, developing green space and appropriate way of sewage and waste disposal, investment and engagement in light engineering and industry, lack of appropriate coordination between organization and Housing Foundation is suggested. In this regard, before implementing the guide plan it is necessary for other organizations and engaged institution in rural development to be coordinated and play an effective role in the process of implementation of the plan by providing clear guidelines for them. So, impacts and outcomes of the plan are not limited to physical cases that are inadequate and these lead to economic and social development of the village too.

After land reform, some actions have been done for rural finance by creating financial institutions such as credit cooperatives, Agriculture Bank and interest-free loan funds which were not successful in improving poor people livelihood. The studied area in this study includes a forest-mountain area that have small and sporadic villages and they are far from rural-urban continuum. In fact, these areas face with basic shortcomings because of their location in geographical isolation, lack of development of market, scattered villages, low population density and unavailability of services (including financial services). Researchers' preliminary studies in this area showed that in financial markets of the forest-mountain villages in Bandpey part of Babol county, for rural finance to meet their needs in micro level, include just officialpublic institutions and semipublic ones (agriculture Bank, credit cooperatives and Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation) that were not operating as rural financial institutions, so in the studied area this question is raised that in spite of the availability of financial institutions, why the level of financing services is low for villagers? Or in other words, why the available financial institutions could not be successful in attracting villagers? Therefore, the question is that what are the characteristics of financial institution for being successful in presenting financial services? This study aims to recognize optimality criteria in institutions that offer financial services in rural districts and tries to present a framework in rural financial institutionalization to help rural managers and development planners in rural financial domain such as Agriculture Bank, rural financial cooperatives, Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation and rural interest-free loan funds.

Ito consider the subject, a qualitative approach has been chosen in this study. So, 25 villagers that are residents of forest-mountain villages of eastern Bandpey in the county have been selected in a purposeful way; data collection has been done through in-depth semi-structured interviews to the theoretical saturation point. Following that, for more clarification and conducting in-depth interview, some follow-up and exploratory questions have been used. After each interview, all the statements were written on the paper. The obtained data from interviews were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis method (by the framework of an inductive approach). To increase the creditability and acceptability of data, these methods have been used: simultaneous data analysis, continuous observation, review by supervisors and selecting the main informants; accuracy and authenticity of data (stability) have been considered too, regarding these indicators: maximum number of participants, desirable relation with participants, accuracy in recording data, using external researchers and supervisors, long time engagement with research and obtained data.

Discussion and Conclusion
On the major subject that is extracted is "flexibility". On the major subject that is extracted is "flexibility". Flexibility of rural financial institution means the flexibility in time duration for loan repayment that does not interfere with planting season and the time that farmers and ranchers should spend money for their works. The results show that when the time of loan repayment interfere with the time that small farmers do not have cash money, this leads to excluding some people from taking credits and more than that those who were able to take the credit, could not gain enough profit. Availability is a criterion in rural space that have low level of livelihood, in faraway geographical location is of great importance. In one hand, availability means physical availability. This criterion can be understandable when rural forest-mountain area is understandable. These areas face with problems because of dispersion of villages and their distance from urban area to receive services including financial services. In another way, lack of finance leads to irresponsibility. Considering the findings showed that if rural financial institutions were dependent to government subsidies, offering credits to meet villagers' needs would be uncertain all the time. Another criterion, a sub-dimension of availability, is "having responsibility regarding to the conditions that farmers face with a social-economic problem". In one hand, small farmers and ranchers' livelihood is always exposed to natural, social and economic crisis (especially in forest-mountain regions), and in another hand, their week financial support make villagers vulnerable to these kind of dangers. The obtained results showed that optimality of a rural financial institution is related to offering services in all dimensions of financial services especially loan, saving and insurance. Therefore, one the most important issues for optimality of the rural financial institutions is the capacity of saving for small farmers and ranchers; they have high desire for saving. Official financial institutions and semi-official ones could not support this dimension of villagers' need with a commercial approach. According to the findings, villagers do not consider financial institutions as merely a monetary institution; they expect an appropriate financial institution not only offer monetary services, but also they expect them offer social services that need investment, or assignment of subsidies on their necessary products for their agriculture. The study findings showed that the assigned small loan is a loan for agriculture not for the farmer, and it rarely considers the need of the villagers for consumption. It is suggested that researchers on institutional issues and service institution in rural districts consider these issues in the time of occurrence and with direct observations and interviews; they should familiarize with their challenges and by a topdown and bottom-up approach, they can present a suitable strategy for the same areas to overcome their problems.

One of the necessary principles of rural development is its management. A special approach of development is needed to be planned for every particular area. On the other hand, it is not useful to apply an integrated approach of development by new managing systems. At this point we can clearly understand the important role of institutions and organizations related to the structuralfunctional development of villages. These institutions and organizations have critical roles in different economic, social, cultural, and eco-environmental aspects of a society. Those tasks defined for some of these institutions and organizations are a combination of different aspects or a single task oriented which can affect rural planning and its development. Management aspects of institutions and organizations related to rural development are among the most important factors here. Although, compared to previous years, considerable changes have occurred in rural management systems but they couldn’t cause rural sustainability. In this regard, structuralfunctioning performance of organizations and institutions related to the current status of villages was highly decisive. So, regarding rural position with the great impact of its development on local national progress, it seems necessary to investigate the performance of the institutions and organizations in different economic, social, cultural, eco-environmental, and structural aspects of villages. This research aims at evaluating the performance of institutions and organizations related to rural sustainability to find ways to the regional development of Dehdez district in the County of Izeh.

This is an applied research conducted by descriptive-analytical approach. Required data was collected through document-library and field studies. Data required for field studies were collected through questionnaires. Among all the residential villages of the area which are over 101, a number of 30 villages (25% of all villages) have been randomly selected as questioning samples. Based on Cochran formula 315 households were selected as statistical samples. Sample population has been distributed among 30 villages using the ratio method proportional to population. Finally, data have been collected and analyzed in SPSS and AMOS software. One- sample t test and correlation analysis methods were used in inferential statistics.

Discussion and conclusion
Regional and integrated developments are the consequences of good programming of acceptable performances of rural institutions and organizations. People believe that, compared to the past 30 years, these institutions and organizations have been acted successfully in terms of economic, social, structural, and eco-environmental aspects. Additionally, they have caused positive changes in programming and fighting against poverty. The most remarkable thing in terms of changes happened is the matter of time requirements and factors affecting this field of study. In other words, in every period of time the existing factors and facilities have influenced on the performance of related organizations and institutions. Another important point is that in spite of spatial inequalities in the provision of services and facilities to the rural areas, relative satisfaction with the performance of such institution and organizations is still visible.
Although the performance of these organizations has been acceptable in four different aspects, their weaknesses cannot be ignored. In fact, if these organizations could make changes in rural development, they couldn’t cause rural sustainability and unsustainability is still continuing there. It can be said that even after the establishment and extra interfering of institutions in rural management, not only have not these human settlements become sustainable, but also several economic, social, and eco-environmental changes have been imposed on them.
Therefore, in spite of the fact that this research is intending to show the effectiveness of rural institutions on the improvement of rural position, it should be mentioned that it is a moderate impact appropriate to the time requirements which is mostly concentrated on services with no effective impact on rural sustainability. So, integrated objectives and systemic perspectives should be taken by managers and programmers and decision making should be done within the same framework. According to the results from the study, in line with the improvement of organizational and institutional performances in the studied area and other generalized regions, a few suggestions are presented:
1. Organizational and institutional emphasis on an integrated systematic rural development and sustainability by paying more attention to all the variables mentioned in the study.
2. More emphasis of related authorities and institutions on economic development of rural areas considering results from the study that shows some deficiencies in terms of income, employment, variety of activities, and ….
3. According to the better functions of rural institutions and organizations in social dimension of villages and the inseparable connection of economic and social dimensions, the existing capacity of social variables should be used for the improvement and promotion of economic sector.
4. Based on the results from the study it can be implied that the lack of suitable institutional interaction in different dimensions of rural development is one of the deficiencies and weaknesses in terms of rural sustainability. On the other hand, each institution and organization is trying for its own goals and it cannot lead to the comprehensive and sustainable rural development. So, it is suggested to increase this type of interactions and try to establish a new organization responsible for rural development.

In this world, villages have turned to a be a place for those people who escape from urban life and machinated life and so people travel to villages to rest. Regarding to the range of demands and necessities of rural environments in these days, rural tourism is developing and its importance and appealing is increasing. In the process of regional planning, rural tourism can be considered as a tool for increasing the local occupation and improving the quality of life and as a result increasing the level of economic welfare and social facilities. Handicrafts in rural regions is a complement factor for agricultural economy. Because of potential job creation opportunities and also earning money, while handicrafts can fill villagers' free time and eliminate unemployment, it can prevent seasonal or permanent migrations that is considered as one of the social harms. This study tries to answer two questions about foothill villages in Behshar County which are very potential at creating and producing handicrafts: First of all, what is the role of growing and developing handicrafts in rural tourism economy? And secondly, regarding the role of handicrafts in tourism economy what villages are at the top respectively?

Methodology used in this study is descriptive and analytic-survey. Data collection has been done by documentary and field study using Likert Scale questionnaires. Data collection has been done by documentary and field study using Likert Scale questionnaires. Statistical population includes 18 foothill villages of Behshahr County; their geographical location and demographic features are shown in figure 2 and table 1. Handicraft products in these villages include wood craving, sculptor, felting, wrapper weaving, carpet weaving, basket weaving, and based on Cochran Formula, 249 householders were chosen as sample size and they were classified randomly. For data analysis, One Sample T Test, Chi- Square, and deviation from optimum have been used. To evaluate validity and stability of the questionnaires by Cronbach's Coefficient Alfa, the results of 25 questionnaires have been tested; the calculated Alfa is 0.89. To obtain validity of the 249 questionnaires, KMO Test and Bartlett's Test have been used; the obtained number is 0.8 that suggests a desirable validity.

Discussion and Conclusion
Tourism and tourism economy have turned to one of the major business principle of world. Beside tourism that has an effective role in national development and diversification of national and regional economy, handicrafts can be a complement for some historical and tourism attractions. Tourism is one of the most important activities; in recent decades tourism has a special place in economic development in some countries. This industry creates income, foreign exchange, job and also it exchanges culture, and more than that it has assigned a share in economic activities of the world including exports. Results show that handicrafts have a role in development of rural tourism economy in Behshahr that is more than the average level. In foothill villages of  Behshahr county, among all the villages, Koa village with number 2.59 has the least impact regarding the following indicators: attracting native and non-native tourists, improving the level of earning income for tourism activists, developing the sustainable capacities, attracting cultural tourists, developing and improving tourism attractions and setting up exhibitions for developing handicrafts. Kiasar village with the number 4.76, and having the first grade, has the most impact regarding the mentioned indicators.