راهبردهای کارآفرینی در کشاورزی (Jul 2024)
Analysis of Employment Challenges and Obstacles in the Field of Medicinal Plants (Case Study: North Savadkuh County)
Abstract
Extended Abstract Background: Today, medicinal plants play a vital role in health, creating employment, and economic development. Despite paying attention to the development of medicinal plant cultivation in Mazandaran province in recent years, resulting in employment creation in rural communities and the reduction of migration, farmers in rural areas are facing challenges to cultivate these plants and employment in this field. Furthermore, the unemployment rate index in this county is higher than the country and the province. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze employment challenges and obstacles in the field of medicinal plants in North Svadkuh County, Mazandaran province. Methods: In this survey with a quantitative approach, the statistical population consisted of the farmers in North Savadkuh county of Mazandaran province, and 204 farmers were selected using Daniel's formula and simple random sampling. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, and its content validity was confirmed by a group of horticultural, extensional, and educational experts. In addition, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine its reliability with an appropriate value (0.7-0.9). Moreover, 175 out of 204 distributed questionnaires were returned to the researchers. Data were analyzed using SPSSV26 software. Results: The findings in the descriptive statistics section showed that most of the farmers (64.6%) were men, mostly with a bachelor’s educational level (37.1%), and their main occupation was agriculture for the majority of the farmers (60.6%). In total, four factors were identified based on the results of exploratory factor analysis on 15 variables of the farmers facing challenges and obstacles in Northern Svadkuh county, Mazandaran province. These factors include skill-logistic factors (17.749%), harvesting and postharvest stage problems, lack of good stories for harvested medicinal plants, damage to the product due to improper handling, and the absence of harvesting machines for medicinal plants in the region, extension-infrastructural factors (17.493%), planting, growing, harvesting, and postharvest stages problems, inattention to medicinal plant cultivation capacity in the region by policymakers, the absence of experts and specialists of medicinal plants in the Agricultural Jihad Organization of the city, the absence of model farms for medicinal plants in the region, limited extension training and classes-farmer field school (FFS), and lack of proper mechanization in the planting, growing, harvesting, and processing of medicinal plants. The rest of the factors include processing industries-marketing factors (16.735%) postharvest stage problems, raw sales and non-processing of medicinal plant products, the absence of medicinal plant packaging companies in the region, the problem of sending raw medicinal plants to other cities, traditional use (without processing) of most medicinal plants in the region, the absence of foreign market and export of medicinal plant products, technical knowledge and information factors (10.983%), growing stage problems, limited knowledge of experts and farmers in the non-chemical control of weeds and diseases of medicinal plant in the region, and farmers' unfamiliarity with the water requirements of medicinal plants). Conclusion: According to the results, the main challenges of farmers for employment in the field of medicinal plants are skills and logistics, extension and infrastructure problems, and transformation and marketing industries of these plants. Thus, it is suggested to teach the skills of harvesting medicinal plants to the farmers and rural youth of the region by holding educational-extension classes. Besides, policymakers, executives, and planners are suggested to pay more attention to the creation of employment in rural areas, which is achieved through the cultivation of these plants, considering the conditions of the province and the capabilities of the Northern Svadkuh County in the production of medicinal plants. It is suggested to try in every district center, especially in the central and eastern regions of the province, which are susceptible to the cultivation of medicinal plants according to the document of the province. The presence of one or more experts with expertise in medicinal plants and proficiency in educational-extension methods should be facilitated to train farmers to promote employment and increase the cultivated area of the mentioned plants. The farmers should be trained in a practical and individual or group form by using suitable extension methods such as result and method demonstrations, a model site, and holding the FFS. In addition, it is possible to provide suitable tools and mechanization in all production stages of medicinal plants for the farmers of the region. The next suggestions are to create processing and packaging industries by providing low-interest and long-term facilities in the region, empowering farmers in terms of knowledge and skills regarding the marketing and processing of medicinal plant products, creating permanent and seasonal markets for direct sales, guaranteed purchase of products, facilitating domestic shipping to different provinces, paying attention to exports, and removing obstacles to international exports. The last suggestion is that a revision is necessary for the training courses of Agricultural Jihad experts of the county and the region, as well as agricultural students. The training should be changed from the theoretical presentation of topics, information, and knowledge into practical and field activities that lead to gaining more experience.
