Investigating Effective Factors on Sustainable Development of Agricultural Cooperatives (case study: Sirjan County)

in order to improve production situation and income of farmers tends to Cooperatives as a link among rural producers, government and consumers and are suitable tools to achieve the goals of sustainable development. In this study, according to the role of cooperatives in achieving sustainable agricultural development, first the sustainable development index in economic, social, institutional and environmental dimensions among a sample of members of agricultural cooperatives in Sirjan using different items in Likert spectra were evaluated. Then, the factors affecting different dimensions of stability were investigated using Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equations (SURE).Results shows different dimensions of economic, social, environmental and institutional sustainability are 0.50, 0.55, 0.55 and 0.47, respectively. According to the results of regression estimation, the variable of participation in educational-extension classes has a positive effect on various dimensions of the sustainable development index and interest in agricultural activities on social, institutional and environmental dimensions. In addition, the history of membership in cooperatives affects the social and institutional dimensions. Due to the importance of the role of education in improving the sustainability, it is recommended that agricultural cooperatives prioritize the provision of productive education tailored to the needs of farmers. Despite the severe instability in the institutional and economic dimensions, the government should try to implement supportive policies to strengthen and develop cooperatives so that they can invest in improving the state of infrastructure. Also, by creating sustainable employment and income, strengthen their interest in farming and staying in this high-risk job and bring more sustainabilit

The Effect of Membership in Agricultural Production Cooperatives on Efficiency of Pistachio Producers in Sirjan Emphasizing the Role of Social Capital

In this research, the efficiency status of a sample of pistachio producers in Sirjan Township, which was selected using Cochran formula and divided into two groups based on membership in agricultural production cooperatives, was studied. Data were collected by questionnaires in 2014 and 2014. In this study, the role of social capital as a software operating factor affecting production along with other production factors has been emphasized. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. The total technical efficiency of inputs and the water sub-vector efficiency were calculated using data envelopment analysis method in two groups of farmers, including social capital and without it.The results showed that technical efficiency in cooperatives farmers was 83 and in non-member Farmer's group 74% including social capital. Also, the water sub-vector efficiency among cooperatives farmers was 58 and in the non-member farmer group was 48% including social capital.Also, the effect of different dimensions of social capital and membership in cooperatives was investigated on the technical efficiency of inputs in the form of Tobit's model.According to the results, membership in cooperatives due to the greater association of farmers with each other and the strengthening of trust and participation among farmers and, as a result, the strengthening of different dimensions of social capital, would increase the productivity and efficiency of farmers