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Evaluation provides effective feedback for development plans and programs. In this respect, it is of utmost importance to ensure that the outputs of agricultural extension and education projects are compatible with the ones expected. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate agricultural extension model sites approach from actors’ perspectives and to analyze their gaps via the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) evaluation model. The study was quantitative, applied, survey-based, and causal-comparative in terms of nature, purpose, methodology, and type of research, respectively. The samples included 150 main and follower farmers from a total number of 40 model sites and 37 subject-matter experts selected using the random and purposive sampling methods, respectively. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose reliability was confirmed through computing Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.75 ≤ α ≤ 0.90) and its validity was established by a panel of experts. The data were further analyzed using the SPSS24 and comparative statistical tests. The comparison results demonstrated that the mean values of the experts’ views towards all items at different evaluation stages (i.e., context, input, process, product, output, and re-engineering) were higher compared with those of the farmers. Moreover, the farmers’ perspectives at the context and the input evaluation stages were not the same as those of the experts, and their satisfaction with the project had boosted as they had approached the output evaluation stage. The results of the gap analysis similarly indicated that the largest negative gap between the views of the experts and the farmers was associated with the input evaluation stage and the smallest gap was related to the site re-engineering. Accordingly, much more attention should be paid to building and maintaining the trust of farmers during the early stages of planning for and implementation of agricultural extension model sites.

Identifying the components of adaptation capacity (AC) of agricultural beneficiaries in the face of climate change lead to implementing strategies of better management in order to reduce damages caused by this change. This issue is of utmost importance in Iran with an arid and semi-arid climate, wherein about 25% of the population is comprised of agricultural beneficiaries. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify and analyze AC components of agricultural beneficiaries to present an appropriate model in the face of climate change. The study area was the Lake Urmia basin where the beneficiaries had been severely affected over the recent years. As a result, qualitative content analysis (QCA) based on the inductive logic was utilized as the research method. Accordingly, valid sources were selected, the existing theories and contents in the field of AC were investigated, and also purposeful interviews were conducted with individuals expertized in the subject-matter to extract and present an AC model of agricultural beneficiaries in the face of climate change. The results revealed that AC could be examined at individual, social, and organizational levels with its own various components. Paying attention to the components could enhance the capacity and thus could mitigate damages to the community. What distinguished the given model from other models reviewed was the examination of different levels (individual, social and organizational dimension) of AC simultaneously.

To control and reduce the effects of drought, it is essential for farmers to do drought risk management so as to cope with climate change. The purpose of this study was to “assessing farmers' drought risk management behavior (FDRMB) in downstream of Karkheh Dam basin, Iran”. For this purpose, the “protection motivation theory (PMT)” was used to measure FDRMB. This theory consists of six variables i.e. “perceived vulnerability (PV)”, “perceived severity (PS)”, “self-efficacy (SE)”, “response cost (RC)”, “response efficacy (RC)”, and “intention (IN)”. This research included a descriptive-correlational and causal relationship that was conducted by a survey. The study population included farmers who were members in the water user association in downstream of Karkheh Dam (N = 3668), out of which, 350 users were sampled by Krejcie and Morgan's table and by the stratified random sampling method, respectively. In accordance with the PMT, for the variables affecting FDRMB a causal framework was designed. Findings from the path analysis indicated that the six variables in PMT might explain 0.473 of the FDRMB variance. Besides, SE had the highest effect in FDRMB (β = 0.503). As a general conclusion, policies need to make farmers take their own risk management decisions and have access to a variety of tools and strategies.

Agricultural higher education is one of the important context in which students may be face with educational burnout during their studies due to their conditions, such as the nature of the field of study, lack of graduates' employment, and reduction in motivation. This research aimed to investigate the factors underpinning the student's academic burnout of Iranian agricultural higher education system. The research was a kind of descriptive-correlational that has done through a survey. The statistical population composed of all students at all educational levels in agricultural faculties of the Iranian state-run universities (N = 236,973). Accordingly, 386 people were selected using the Krejcie and Morgan's tables and stratified random sampling method with proportional to size. A researcher-made questionnaire with 104 questions arranged in six parts used for data collection. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha, average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR). According to the results, the variables of high workload and achievement motivation were the most influential factors on academic burnout, respectively. This study's results can be a useful step for policymakers and planners in the agricultural higher education system to prevent student's academic burnout and remove obstacles to dynamic academic achievement., Education; Psychology; Academic burnout; Achievement motivation; Proper workload; Agricultural students; Higher education; Iran.

Access to water has always been a source of tension and has been and continues to be a conflict among stakeholders. In the meantime, villagers and farmers have a major stake in analyzing water conflicts. Water conflicts investigation is possible from different perspectives, one of the most important being the human ecological angle. This research aimed to study the human ecological analysis of water conflict in Iran’s rural areas. For this purpose, ethical approach and VBN theory were used to measure water conflict behavior (WCB). This study is a descriptive-correlational, ex-post facto and causal relationship that was conducted using a survey. The statistical population was rural people in Zarrineh River watershed basin, Kurdistan province, Iran (N = 14910) which 380 of them were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire which was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was determined using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The findings showed that most of the villagers were at open water conflict level and their dominant environmental attitude was egoistic and WCB was significantly higher in them. Based on VBN theory the causal chain model of environmental value attitudes (EVA), beliefs and norms affecting WCB was presented and tested. The results indicate a crisis in water resources management, especially from the point of view of human ecology, which further reveals the need for fundamental changes to create and establish appropriate environmental insights in water stakeholders. Keywords: Water management, Conflict behavior, VBN theory, Rural people