Economy

Agricultural sustainability is being undoubtly considered as one of the most prominrnt sector of sustainable development. Bala Velayats settlers Torbate Heydareeyeh basically rely on orchard economy and more specifically on Safran for their livelihoods. This crop originally was cultivated in Khorasan this in turn requier special attention regardinng the sustainability issue. This paper aims to emphasis on social – economic sustainability regardingSafarans production. The research method of this study is based on both field works and documentary method. It is further supported by regression correlation analysis as a part of data gathering procedures, questionnaire were distributed among rural key and influential persons (Dehyaran) as well as 227 of peasants extracted out of 20 villages. This study suggests that the economic status of the peasants, their low income, price fluctuation of Safran, non-assured prices of Safran, lack of appropriate marketing, the high procurement costs, and incapability of government institutions regarding the creation of co-operative institutions responsible for transaction of Safran, all are being considered s major cause of Saran’s economic no sustainability. However, spontaneous community participation and their extravagant desire regarding cultivation of this crop are among sustainability’s elements. This in turn could justify the social sustainably of the villages. This study suggests that there exists a positive and significant correlation between levels of sustainably of this crop and literacy level of the population as an independent variable. This study further suggests that there exist a significant and negative correlation between sustainability of this crop and distance from the town as an independent variable.

Introduction
In economy structure of rural districts in different countries, agriculture is considered as the main source of livelihood. The most important characteristic of this structure is lack of diversification for economic contexts and job opportunities, especially for the increasing number of people in the villages which is almost the result of attitude toward the village and government policies and internal factors in the village. The consequences that are the results of dependency of the users to the environment out of the village and external markets, obvious and unobvious unemployment, decrease in return of investment, destruction of basic natural resources, rural economy vulnerability, and instability of income sources include weakening economy and culture of the village, rural migration and marginalization. The country's villages have a weak economy and they are vulnerable because of their severe dependency on agriculture and its income and lack of employment sources and non-farm income sources. Agriculture section is not capable of increasing the level of income because of limitation of land areas which cannot be increased. Therefore, it seems necessary to search for another income source regarding the capabilities and limitation of each region of the country for rural economy diversification in order to increase the population stability in the villages. Upper Ashkevar rural district is located in a mountain region and therefore it has limitation in land area, it has agriculture -based livelihood, a limited capacity for employing workforce and no diversification. Because of population growth and increase of the number of young workforce, unemployment rate is growing every day and it seems to be extremely important to find alternative strategies for villagers' employment and income earning in this region focusing on population stability and saving the remained population. Therefore, diversification approach for rural economic activities as a useful strategy is one of the most important strategies which is presented for reducing the negative impacts of unsustainability in different environmental, economic and social aspects on rural contexts and in accordance with sustainable development pattern which is confirmed by most of international organizations including Global Bank and by most of theorists. High vulnerability of agriculture activities in the region has increased the necessity of diversification in agriculture activities. This study aims to answer the following question: "What are the most important limitations in diversification of rural economic activities in Upper Ashkevar"?
Methodology
This survey is a practical one, regarding its aim and it is done by descriptive-analytic method. The population includes villages of Ashkurat district in Rudsar which is determined according to field studies in the region and exploratory studies. For assessment of studied variables, we used survey methods and documentary research methods to obtain the information needed. In documentary part, we collected data by reviewing the literature and theories and in quantitative part we analyzed data which were collected through field study and also by the information provided from some organizations. The study population includes villages of Upper Ashkevar rural district (53 villages) in Rudsar County. To determine the number of households, we used Cochran Formula and according to that, samples are 285 households. Alfa Cronbach coefficient is calculated 0.786. To analysis the impacts of infrastructural and basic variables, natural factors and social factors which are effective on the lack of diversification in rural economy activities, we used step by step multi regression analysis method. The studied region is located in Rahimabad district in Rudsar County, north of Iran. Its elevation is 1500 to 2000 meter above sea level. Its population has decreased from 2478 people in 2006 to 1619 people in 2011. Agriculture is the basic occupation for the villagers in this region. Environmental limitation especially droughts in recent decades and climate changes in most years have threatened the agriculture production in this area.
Discussion and Conclusion
One of the most effective factors to describe the presence of increasing unemployment, low income, migration from rural districts to cities, low level of production, and inefficient use of resources is lack of diversification in economic activities in rural settlements. This issue has a fundamental role in economic instability. Rural settlements in this region are affected by many factors including unevenness of the soil surface, weather, water resources, soil and vegetation, limitation of slope, cold weather, geographical isolation and lack of infrastructures. As a result, there is a sever instability in economy and population of this region; in a way that during two censuses in 85 and 90, population of this region decreased by 30%. Increase of unemployment, poverty, income inequality and as a consequence pressure on basic resources have resulted in environmental problems including soil erosion. The obtained results show that among all the different factors which were studied, the impact of infrastructural and basic factors is more than other variables. Then, environmental factors, economic factors and social factors are effective in lack of rural economy diversification respectively. Regarding this, providing and implementing development plans for expansion and improvement of infrastructure levels such as suitable road, supporting services for production and alternant industries can be effective in rural economy diversification of the region.
 

Regarding the fact that economic activities, in particular, and resources and facilities, in general, are poorly concentrated in terms of spatial distribution, every area requires a particular program corresponding to its specific conditions. In this way, before doing everything we need to identify the past and present situation of different regions based on appropriate scientific methods. The inequality between urban and rural areas is mostly originated from the insufficient knowledge of policies applied in these areas as well as policies taken to evaluate the impact of programs on different economic variables including employment. In this article we are trying to recognize deprived and non-deprived areas to help us study current status of employment in rural areas and making a relative balance between all parts of the country. In fact we are going to find the answers to the questions that: What are some comparative advantages of economic activity in rural areas? What is Gini coefficient of economic activities in rural areas than in the country? According to the comparative advantages of employment in the major occupational groups, how can we put different provinces in order?

The aim of this article is to examine comparative advantages of rural areas in different provinces for every major economic area and evaluating the amount of regional balance in every economic section. This is an applied study accomplished by the use of descriptive- analytical method. Required data has been taken from the census of 1385 and 1390 in Statistical Center of Iran. Along with data processing and classification, employment status of major occupational groups in rural areas has been accounted using Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient through Excel software. Moreover, geographical maps of comparative advantage of a variety of major occupational groups were drawn in ARC GIS software. Finally, rural population of different provinces was ranked based on different groups of economic activities, through the models of Standard factor, Topsis, factor analysis and clustering. The followings major occupational groups have been selected as Indicators for determining comparative advantage and regional balance to calculate the amount of employment in the provinces and rural areas.

Discussion and conclusion
We have selected 85 and 90 series as samples for the spatial analysis of the employment status in rural areas. Then, we have tried some working indicators on this group and analyzed its results. Results include some spatial patterns of working indicators in rural areas of Iran. In other words, it shows that almost in all major occupational parts of the country, there is no regional balance in the distribution of working population in rural areas: This type of inequality is more observable in the two sections of "Hospitality and catering" and "Real estate, renting and business activities "."Agriculture" is the only section containing comparative balance within different provinces.
Comparing Gini coefficient of rural population to the total number of employers of different provinces in major occupational groups, it is understood that this indicator exceeds its total number in rural areas and it's still increasing. Only in "agriculture" sector of rural areas Gini coefficient is less than its total which implies giving less attention to rural areas of the country and poor investment in rural areas comparing to the rate of investment in the entire provinces over the recent years.
Studying comparative advantages of different provinces in major occupational groups in rural population reveals the fact that there is a relatively observable advantage in 8 parts of Tehran province. After Tehran, there are the two provinces of Mazandaran and Kermanshah in 5 and 4 parts, respectively, and then Yazd, Booshehr, and Kohgilouye and Boyer-Ahmed in 3 parts of highly comparative advantages.
Among the entire provinces, Tehran and Booshehr contains the least amount of comparative advantage of employment only in "agriculture" sector.
Some provinces including Kerman in all its occupational groups, Sistan- Baloochestan in 8 parts, Kordestan in 5 parts, and Lorestan in 4 major occupational parts are among the deprived provinces in terms of job creation in major occupational groups.
 Based on the results of the study, despite of lots of experimental and theoretical studies on geographical distribution of unemployment and regional employment which have been recently doing by researchers, there is still some regional inequalities. It can be deduced that Gini coefficient in rural areas has been rising from 1385 to 1390. In fact, regional differences of job creation are increasing in rural areas. Studying comparative advantages of major occupational groups in rural district of Tehran, Booshehr, Yazd, Esfahan, Khorasan-Razavi, Fars, Mazandaran, and Gilan shows observable comparative advantage of employment in these areas. Although, there is an inappropriate condition of employment in some provinces including Sistan-Baloochestan, Hormozgan, and Kohgilouye Boyer-Ahmed.