Improving rural livelihood based on natural resources potentials in Najafabad region, Kurdistan Province, Iran

The present study aimed to analyze the strategies based on natural resource potentials to improve the livelihood of rural households in the Najafabad region of Kurdistan Province using SWOT analysis. Methods: The statistical population of this study included experts and rural residents. The sample size was 337 rural residents based on the Cochran formula and matching with Krejcie and Morgan table and 51 experts by targeted sampling. The items of questionnaires were designed as a rating scale based on the five options Likert. The reliability of questionnaires was determined by Cronbach’s alpha that obtained 0.85 for rural residents and 0.82 for experts. SWOT model and SPACE matrix was used to determine strategies for improving the livelihood of rural households based on natural resource potentials. Findings: According to the results, “natural potentials such as suitable rangelands for animal husbandry” and “the presence of local, committed and skilled manpower in the village” were determined as the most critical strengths from the viewpoint of experts and rural residents, respectively. “Traditional use and exploitation of rangeland and agricultural lands” and “high unemployment rate and low income” were determined as the most critical weaknesses from the viewpoint of experts and rural residents, with a relative weight of 86.27 and 86.62, respectively. “The existence of a favorable vision and serious effort for rural development in the country” and “providing credit facilities and low-interest loans” were the most critical opportunities from the viewpoint of experts and rural residents, respectively. Results showed that “environmental and related threats to rural livelihoods such as drought and floods” are the most critical threat to rural livelihood improvement. Conclusion: A competitive strategy has been obtained for improving the livelihood of the Najafabad region. This strategy suggests teaching and planning new methods of exploiting water resources and planting drought-resistant species for improving rural livelihood. Copyright© 2021, the Authors | Publishing Rights, ASPI. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms.