Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Multidisciplinary
21
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Enhancing rural women's livelihood sustainability through medicinal plants cultivation: A hybrid SWOT–Fuzzy AHP–TOWS analysis. Narges Mirzahossein, Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri, Mohammad Shokati Amghani, Mehrdad Niknami Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 2026 Rural women in developing countries often face significant barriers to employment, income generation, and access to productive resources. In Iran, medicinal plants (MPs) cultivation offers a sustainable pathway toward economic empowerment and livelihood resilience. This study develops and prioritizes strategies to enhance the livelihood sustainability of rural women through MPs cultivation using an integrated SWOT (Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats)–Fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)–TOWS (Threats– Opportunities – Weaknesses– Strengths) model. Data collected from experts in agricultural and rural development sectors were analyzed to evaluate internal and external strategic factors. The strategic space analysis revealed that internal strengths (0.473) outweighed weaknesses (0.128), while external opportunities (0.325) surpassed threats (0.092), indicating that the favorable strategic space (O + S = 0.798) dominated the risky space (T + W = 0.220). Twelve strategies were formulated and prioritized, among which two emerged as most critical: (1) economic empowerment of rural women through home-based MPs processing enterprises and (2) promotion of greenhouse-based cultivation as a sustainable alternative to wild harvesting. The findings highlight the importance of leveraging indigenous knowledge, improving branding and packaging, and strengthening institutional support to achieve sustainable rural livelihoods. The proposed hybrid framework provides a replicable analytical tool for policymakers to design context-specific interventions linking women's empowerment, biodiversity conservation, and rural economic sustainability.
When nature treats farmers strictly: hazard management strategies in the Sistan Plain, Iran Zahra Khakifirouz, Mehrdad Niknami, Marzieh Keshavarz, Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri Climate and Development, 2026 Natural hazards have led to livelihood insecurity, poverty, and infrastructure destruction in arid regions. It is essential to enhance the farmers’ resilience to current and future hazards. In this respect, understanding adaptive strategies that increase the farmers’ resilience is imperative. The present qualitative research was conducted to identify adaptive strategies for farmers of the Sistan Plain (Iran) to enhance their resilience to hazards. Data were collected through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with experts, observation, and field notes. The results revealed drought, dust storms, and floods as the major hazards farmers face in this area. The adaptive strategies to drought could be divided into technical-agricultural management, water resources management, livelihood, and legal-infrastructure factors. In addition, strategies for enhancing farmers’ resilience to floods included infrastructure, technical, and livelihood management strategies. Also, the findings indicated that dealing with the dust storms requires applying technical, economic, legal, and infrastructure strategies. Risk management, good water governance and water diplomacy, accelerating economic growth, developing non-farm and small-scale enterprises, building capacity and empowering rural families, and strengthening infrastructures can enhance resilience to natural hazards in Sistan Plain.
Struggle for survival in climate change conditions: What are the strategies of the Bam Dej wetland users? Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, Mehrdad Niknami, Maryam Omidi Najafabadi, Masoumeh Forouzani Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, 2025 In recent years, climate change and improper exploitation of the Bam Dej wetland have disrupted the ecological balance and increased the vulnerability of stakeholders. This has jeopardized the sustainability of the wetland. Therefore, the present study aims to analyze the social-ecological resilience of the stakeholders of the Bam dej wetland in the face of climate change, using an exploratory mixed-method research approach (qualitative-quantitative). This approach provided a deeper understanding of the social and ecological interactions and helped identify the factors influencing resilience in this ecosystem. In the first phase, grounded theory methodology was used to analyze qualitative data. This method, implemented through semi-structured interviews with 20 managers, experts, and specialists familiar with the region, helped identify key concepts and extract a conceptual model of resilience. Participants were selected using snowball sampling, and data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously through continuous comparison. Maxqda software was used for qualitative data analysis, with coding done in three stages: open, axial, and selective. In the second phase, the conceptual model obtained from the qualitative phase was tested quantitatively through structural analysis. The results of this study revealed that strategies were most influenced by contextual conditions, followed by intervening and causal conditions, indicating the significance of environmental and intervening conditions in shaping strategies. Furthermore, the outcomes were highly dependent on the strategies, and improvements in contextual conditions led to better outcomes. These findings confirm the model's ability to identify influential factors and provide practical solutions to enhance stakeholder resilience. Overall, the resilience level of the wetland stakeholders was assessed as moderate.
Analysis of interrelationships between the management of agricultural water consumption optimization constructs based on smart climate agriculture: application of structural analysis Ali Tavasoti, Mehrdad Niknami, Jamal Farajollah Hosseini, Maryam Omidi Najafabadi Frontiers in Climate, 2025 Considering that the behavior of farmers regarding the use of smart climate agricultural technologies is influenced by the socio-economic conditions of their locality, this study identified the constituent components of optimal agricultural water consumption management in Pakdasht city, Iran. To analyze the data, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed using AMOS20 to investigate the linear relationships between latent and explicit variables. The results showed that the hidden variables of educational and economic, technical and economic, and cultural and economic dimensions have a significant relationship with each other. Variables such as financial support from official institutions to greenhouse owners for the preparation and installation of new irrigation systems, financial facilities provided by Agriculture Bank for greenhouse development, financial support for research and development in optimal water management, and financial support packages for adopters of smart technologies impact the economic dimension of water consumption management among greenhouse owners. Additionally, the ability to attract support from local leaders for optimal water management, capacity building, and the empowerment of local communities—particularly youth—in this area, as well as the formation of cooperative groups among users of new irrigation methods, facilitate interactions between greenhouse owners.
Validation of the professional competencies model required by experts of agricultural consulting, technical, and engineering services companies to provide private extension services Sanaz Farshad, Mehrdad Niknami Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2024 One of the important pillars for achieving organizational objectives is the presence of qualified human resources. Professional competencies in experts working in agricultural consulting, technical, and engineering services companies (ACTESCs) can be a basis for the quality of human resources and assure the quality of the functions of this system. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify the professional competencies required by extension experts working in these companies to provide extension services from their perspectives. The research method was a survey. The statistical population of the study consisted of 593 extension experts working in these companies, from whom 234 people were selected as the sample by the use of Cochran’s formula. In the field stage, a questionnaire was used as the main research tool. The face and content validities as well as the reliability of the research tool were confirmed. The result of the structural equation modeling approach confirmed the hypothesis that economic, technical, and communicational functions play roles in providing extension services. Accordingly, it is recommended to fill the gap between the existing competencies and the competencies required by the experts working in the ACTESCs to provide appropriate Private Extension Services (PESs).
How does geographical branding improve the efficiency of the apple supply chain? Siavash Noori, Mehrdad Niknami, Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri, Hamed Rafiee Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2024 Brands are among the most valuable assets of agricultural businesses. Geographical branding can play a fundamental role in national and international markets by creating a competitive identity. On the other hand, orchard owners in a certain geographical region can understand the status of a product’s supply chain. Nonetheless, few studies have focused on how branding can influence the status of a product’s supply chain. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the effect of geographical branding on improving the apple supply chain. The research is an applied study in terms of the goal, conducted by the survey methodology. Data were collected by distributing 360 questionnaires among apple orchard owners in Damavand County sampled by simple randomization. Cochran’s formula estimated the sample size. The research instrument was a research-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling. According to the results, special brand value, brand loyalty, brand image, brand attitude, brand experience, brand purchasing intention, and brand identity were the components found to improve the efficiency of the Apple supply chain significantly.
Challenges of implementing a climate-smart agriculture-based curriculum in agricultural vocational schools: evidence from Iran Mehdi Jomegi, Mehrdad Niknami, Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri, Masoud Bijani Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2024 The research aimed to identify the challenges of developing and implementing a climate-smart agriculture (CSA)-based curriculum in Iran’s agricultural vocational schools. It was exploratory descriptive-analytical in nature and applied in goal, in which data were collected with the library and deep interview method. The research methodology was based on grounded theory. The statistical population was composed of 16 researchers, authors, managers, and experts of the Office of Textbook Compilation of the Organization for Educational Research and Planning and the Research Center of Educational Studies. The participants were selected by the homogenous purposive sampling method. The interview with the target population continued until it reached theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed using the content analysis method. The data collected in the interviews were subjected to open, axial, and selective coding, which resulted in deriving 119 concepts and 28 categories. The results revealed a seven-dimension structure composed of the challenges related to determining educational goals, trainees, trainers’ professional process, teaching methods, curriculum content selection and organization, curriculum implementation, and curriculum appraisal. The results can help the experts in the Office of Textbook Compilation experts adopt smarter policies and solutions to solve the challenges of developing and implementing a CSA-based curriculum in agricultural vocational schools in Iran.
The causes and effects of water conflict: Evidence from damava Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 2020
Analyzing impacts of farmer field school on the economic, social, production, and knowledge status of greenhouse owners: Evidence from Tehran Province and its surrounding counties Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 2020
An investigation of the factors affecting social capital improvement among rural Islamic council members of Tehran Advances in Environmental Biology, 2014
