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Showing 3 results for Animal Husbandry

Hossein Mikhak, Fereshteh Hafezi, Tahereh Sadeghloo,
Volume 9, Issue 34 (2-2021)
Abstract

Introduction
Animal husbandry and livestock raising as the most important agricultural sub-sector reduces poorest people's vulnerability all over the world by providing them a "food safety network". In this regard, ranchers are facing key challenges such as low yields of cattle, lack and fragmentation of pasture, water shortage and need to irrigate pastures and meadows, competition for land due to growing demanding for farming lands. The rural cattle farming units have the least competition for global food supply, and production in these types of units is being done on small and limited farms in terms of resources. The other characteristics of rural cattle farming units are dependence on pastures, grazing, mixed production and individual ownership. In modern and industrial farms, by continuous monitoring and control the production, welfare and health of animals and environmental conditions are improved and they are able to detect heat stress, infection, or air quality problems and take immediate action in response to them. Given the future global demand for food supply, undoubtedly, traditional systems will not be able to meet these needs; and one of the logical solutions to solve this problem is to accelerate the conversion of traditional husbandry systems to semi-industrial and industrial systems. Undoubtedly, this conversion can increase the amount of food in the country and the province in the future. Therefore, for development of rural cattle farming units, it is necessary to identify the development factors of these units so that by awareness of these factors, decision makers in the husbandry and agriculture sectors would provide appropriate and efficient strategies to achieve the important and fundamental goal of increasing livestock production through principled planning.
 
Research Method
This research is practical, done in descriptive-analytical methodology and field survey method is used for data collection. The statistical population of this study consists all of beneficiaries of rural cattle farming units in Khorramabad in 2018 (N = 4762). From 4762 ranchers, 185 were selected using the Cochran formula as sample size in this studied community. Then, ranchers were selected by multi-stage sampling method and the required data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire. The visual and conceptual narrative validity of the research instrument was confirmed by surveying faculty members of the Department of Rural Economics and Development of Lorestan University. To assess the reliability, pre-test and calculation of Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient were used. In descriptive statistics section, statistics such as frequency, mean, standard deviation and minimum and maximum were used to describe the characteristics of ranchers. In the statistical inference section, the correlation coefficient, independent t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to compare the average views of traditional ranchers and managers of semi-industrial farms in the development of rural cattle farming units. Also, the classification of factors affecting the development of rural cattle farming units was done through exploratory factor analysis. The above cases were done using SPSS software.
 
Discussion and conclusion
According to the obtained results, the tendency of rural cattle farming units to development, among more than half of the ranchers, is in low and relatively low level (72.2%). There is also a positive and significant relationship at 1% level between variables of number of cows, income and land area in rural areas with tendency to development of rural cattle farms. According to the results of exploratory factor analysis, the factors that affect development of farm dairy units in Khorramabad were categorized into six factors: 1) price-credits, 2) services-supportive, 3) infrastructure, 4) veterinary and breeding services, 5) educational-promotional and 6) supportive. These factors were able to explain 76.93% of the total variance. According to the results of the research, these suggestions are provided: government support through the payment of low-interest facilities, needs assessment, holding special meetings for rural ranchers, improving ranchers' attitudes toward livestock insurance and increasing their satisfaction with insurance services.

Mahdiyeh Saei, Pirooz Shakeri, Asghar Salehi, Sefatolah Rahmani,
Volume 10, Issue 37 (12-2021)
Abstract

Introduction
Providing qualified, healthy and enough food for the population of the country has always been a fundamental issue for government officials and experts. At the same time, the economic growth of the society, the raise of consumption of livestock products in the household and the growth of the population have increased the demand for these products. Given these, conducting new scientific research for sustainable development of animal husbandry and promotion of livestock production is one of the inevitable strategies. Kerman Province has a dry/arid climate, but due to its large rangelands, it is one of the traditional nomadic places for rural livestock activities in the country. Because of unbalanced distribution, some areas of Kerman Province have a good ability to produce livestock, especially in rural and nomadic areas, which has a large share in supplying meat and dairy products needed for local people and even exported to neighboring places.  At present, the north of Kerman province is ranked the 13th red meat, egg and honey producer, the 17th milk producer and the 18th chicken meat producer. The amount of animal husbandry employment in this province is 40%. A small amount of studies in Iran investigated structural and institutional factors influencing the sustainable development of the livestock industry. This is a common issue for other countries too.  Studies have been mostly on the factors on sustainable development of other sectors such as tourism, sustainable rural development, etc.

Methodology
According to the purpose, nature and method, this study is considered as an applied and descriptive-analytical research, respectively. The statistical population consisted of three groups: experts of the deputy for livestock in Agricultural Jahad Organization of Kerman Province, experts of the Animal Sciences Research Department of the Kerman Agricultural Research Center, and some representatives of private sector organizations. 20 individuals were selecetd from these groups.  The data collection tool was a questionnaire including 70 close questions. This questionnaire was divided in 7 domains (indicators): vision, objectives and macro strategies in policy (4 items), process and cycles of input supply and sales of livestock products (4 items), vision, objective and strategies for sustainable development of livestock industry (12 items), upgrading the capacity of existing economic activities in the livestock industry (18 items), sustainable development programs in the livestock industry (10 items), effective mechanisms in sustainable development of the livestock industry (13 items), social and institutional  requirements for implementation of development projects (7 items). 

Discussion and conclusion
The results of the study obtained using descriptive and inferential statistics showed that for the vision, objectives and macro strategies in policy for Kerman Province in the official documents (before the Sixth National Development Plan and after two-year implementation of the Plan), the most successful livestock was first the heavy livestock and then the poultry. Light livestock and aquatic animals are the next prospering livestock before the Sixth National Development Plan. However, the performance of the two-year implementation of the Sixth Plan has been less successful than the previous plans, so this need to be addressed in planning and policy making. Regarding the process and cycles of input supply and sales of livestock products, experts believe that supplying the inputs (fodder and concentrate, chickens, genes, vaccines, medicine, etc.) before production, and then services and supply during production, such as veterinary and health services, technical guidance to production units are the most effective measures. On the other hand, marketing procedure and products supply to the final consumer as well as the collection, processing and processing of livestock products are less important. Therefore, the problems of providing inputs and fodder and services should be a priority for the relevant organizations. One of the most effective indicators of sustainable development of the livestock industry in the north of Kerman Province is the income enhancement. Consequently, any policy for sustainable development of the livestock industry should first increase the income for the ranchers. The experts also believe that the facilitation of the Agriculture Jahad Organization is the most effective action for enhancing the capacity of economic activities in the livestock industry. The facilitator enables the group or organization to operate more effectively, increase collaboration, and create cooperation. The facilitator also encourages individuals to participate, understand each other, and collectively do tasks. Among the current programs for sustainable development of the livestock industry in the north of Kerman Province, increasing production and productivity is of the highest importance from the experts' point of view. Improving the entrepreneurial attitude and identifying human resources in the livestock industry to implement projects are the other variables that can pave the way for improving and promoting the sustainable development of the rural livestock industry in the north of Kerman Province.

Mr 1. mohammad Hasan Ekhtyarzadeh, Dr Mehdi Rahimian, Dr Saeed Gholamrezai, Dr Mohsen Aref Nejad,
Volume 13, Issue 1 (6-2024)
Abstract

Objective: Considering the country's need for livestock products, it is very necessary to establish and develop dairy cattle breeding units in the country. On the other hand, there are many challenges in the value production chain of this sector. The aim of the current research is to identify the challenges of the dairy cow value production chain.
Methods: This research is descriptive in terms of practical purpose, in terms of control of field variables and in terms of data collection method. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population was specialists, activists and experts in the dairy cattle production sector in Iran. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and content validity method, respectively. Data analysis was done using SPSS software at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: According to the results, the most important challenges are, in order of providing financial resources, challenges related to eugenics centers, and administrative and organizational challenges (first to third ranks). Environmental challenges, challenges of cattle products supply and sales centers, and challenges of livestock products transformation and processing industries are in the last ranks (twelfth to fourteenth) of this category.
Conclusions: in all challenges, the rank average of each challenge category is higher than its median value, and the average difference in all challenges with the median value is statistically significant.


 

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