Renewable Energy Use in Smallholder Farming Systems: A Case Study in Tafresh Township of Iran

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate use of renewable energy and materials in smallholder farming system of the Tafresh township of Iran. The population of the study consisted of 2,400 small farmers working in the smallholder farming systems of the area, in which 133 people were selected as sample using Cochran formula and simple random sampling technique. In order to gather the information, a questionnaire was developed for the study and validated by the judgment of the experts in agricultural development and extension. The reliability of the main scales of the questionnaire was examined by Cronbach Alpha coefficients, which ranged from 0.7 to 0.93, indicating the tool of study is reliable. The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents use renewable energy and materials directly in its traditional forms without enabling technologies, and they lack the access to renewable technologies to improve the efficiency of energy use. They preferred fossil energy for many activities due to its lower cost and ease of access. The overall OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2010, 2 703 conclusion is that there are potentials and capacities for using renewable energies and materials in the farming systems of the Tafresh township. The government has to support and encourage the adoption of renewable technologies and abandon fossil fuels wherever possible.

Rethinking Sustainability within the Viticulture Realities Integrating Economy, Landscape and Energy

“…It may vary based on different crops, regions and technologies employed; particularly, certain damaging processes can be limited (or better avoided) in specific highly-sensitive areas to degradation processes such as soil erosion, also contributing to a real loss of biodiversity [3,63,[71][72][73].…”

Assessing the effect of climate change and financial development on agricultural production in ASEAN-4: the role of renewable energy, institutional quality, and human capital as moderators

“…The study urges the use of renewable energy at a national level to make the agriculture sector environmentally friendly. Fami et al (2010) investigated reasons for using non-renewable energy in Iran by surveying 2400 small farmers and collected a sample of 133 people by using Cochran formula and random sampling techniques. The finding has revealed that the majority of respondents are using non-renewable energy and methods due to lack of advance renewable technologies.…”

Factors Affecting The Use and Development of Solar Energy in Iran's Agricultural Sector

“…So, it can be accepted that there is a direct relationship between them. Stigka et al (2014), Martin andRice (2012), MuradSharifi et al (2009), Eder et al (2015) and Fami et al (2010) have proved this hypothesis in their study.…”

“…Ferreira et al (2012) argue that policy is essential if the academic community is to capitalize effectively on recent government investments in research and provide the necessary evidence basis for reconciling agricultural production and environmental conservation in Brazil. Fami et al (2010) in their study found that the majority of the respondents used renewable energy and materials directly in its traditional forms without enabling technologies, and that they lacked the access to renewable technologies to improve the efficiency of energy use. They preferred fossil energy for many activities due to its lower cost and ease of access.…”