The Examination of Structural Challenges in Agriculture Green Development; Perspective of Greenhouse Farmers in Ashkzar County

Authors

1 Department of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Ira

2 Department of Social Work and Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

3 Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.

Abstract

Traditional agriculture has been rendered impossible in Iran due to the deterioration of water resources and the adverse climatic conditions. Meanwhile, the continuation of agriculture is essential for guaranteeing food security for Iranian society. In this context, greenhouse farming has emerged as an environmentally sustainable solution that is consistent with the principles of green agricultural development. Nevertheless, Iran's green agriculture expansion is confronted with a multitude of obstacles and challenges. These obstacles and impediments are examined in this investigation.
Constructivist grounded theory is implemented in the research methodology. The participants were greenhouse farmers in Ashkzar County who had a minimum of three years of experience in greenhouse cultivation. Focused interviews were conducted with 45 of these producers using a purposive sampling method (maximum variation sampling). The constructivist grounded theory three-phase coding approach was employed to analyze the collected data, which included initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding.
The findings indicate that the most significant obstacles to green agricultural development from the perspective of greenhouse farmers in Ashkzar County are institutional aporia, environmental-industrial pollution, economic disorder, inefficiency in energy policy-making, inadequacy of environmental education, technological backwardness, and climatic incompatibility. The primary category that was identified was “institutional-structural aporia and the failure of green agriculture green development.” In their interrelated articulation, these challenges have collectively contributed to the failure of green agricultural development in Ashkzar.
The results findings that the development of green agriculture is contingent upon a comprehensive overhaul of environmental education, policymaking, and institutional structures. The sustainability of agriculture in water-scarce regions such as Ashkzar will be jeopardized if this revision is not implemented.

Keywords

References

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