| Abstrakt: |
Background and purpose: Exploitation and grazing of livestock is the most important human activity on the rangelands. The importance of how to manage the ranch units of each and every rangelands is one of the management challenges of rangelands in the country . Rangelands need basic management and planning for keeping resources (water, soil and plants) safe and livestock grazing continuity. Therefore, the importance of proper use of rangeland has made it as one of the most vital issues in the field of conservation, rehabilitation, improvement, and development of rangelands. In this regard, the present research has investigated the willingness of ranchers towards the individualization of rangeland among the ranchers of Gamishan city in the northwest of Golestan province. Materials and Methods: The present research is field in terms of data collection, descriptive in terms of variable control, and survey in terms of implementation strategy. The statistical population of the research consists of 200 rangeland households from three ranch units in Gomishan city of Golestan province. So that 127 of them were selected as the sample size based on Krejcie Morgan table . Sampling was random as well as the classification. The data collection tool was a questionnaire that was systematically developed according to the purpose of the research and based on the background of the research as well as interviews with experts and experienced ranchers based on the focused group method and extracting a set of relevant components. To determine the willingness of ranchers towards the individualization of rangelands, 44 items in the form of 7 components economic, social, water and soil, rehabilitation and protection, livestock and animal husbandry, welfare and management were used. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and ranchers . To ensure its reliability, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated, which averaged 0.805, which indicates the acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. Statistical calculations in this research were performed using SPSS25 software in two descriptive and inferential sections . Results: The results of the research showed that ranchers had a greater willingness to individualize their rangelands with a numerical value of 2.76. The results indicated that, the individualization of rangelands from economic dimension was depend on "creating investment in livestock and rangeland" and "improving livestock income". Reducing violations and crimes in rangeland was the most important issue in the social dimension. And " optimum use of surface water in the pasture" and "Prevention of soil erosion and loss of surface soil" in water and soil dimension were pointed out. Avoiding non-native ranchers from entering the rangeland "and "rehabilitation of rangeland lands through plantation and integrated methods" were found important in the dimension of rangeland restoration and protection. Grazing system in the rangeland and creating a suitable space for providing livestock drinking in the dimension of livestock and animal husbandry were named. Development of clean energy such as solar panels in the rangeland and access to suitable facilities for family life in the welfare dimension, improvement in creativity and innovation in rangeland management and organizational support and access to government services in the management dimension were focused on. In addition, the dimensions of "management" and "livestock and animal husbandry" in the individualization of rangelands and "social" dimension in the exploitation of collective were the most important cases. Also, the results obtained from a single sample t test showed that the willingness of ranchers in choosing the type of exploitation at the level of 99% confidence are in all criteria except "water and soil" had a significant effect. Conclusion: Considering that sustainable rangeland management faces serious challenges of degradation, so choosing the type of exploitation for better rangeland management is one of the most important priorities . As the results showed, the willingness of ranchers in the study area has been towards individualization of rangelands needs changing the traditional perceptions of ranchers towards the collective exploitation of the land. The research results show that in collective exploitation, trust, responsibility acceptance, empathy and participation are good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
