چكيده لاتين :
1. Introduction
The agricultural sector in the less developed countries on a national and regional
scale affected by the national, regional and global economy, facing many
challenges in terms of its functioning. This issue has limited food security and local
and national development because agriculture in the marginalized and deprived
areas of these countries is often of a kind of retail and traditional agriculture.
Therefore, understanding the nature and dynamism of the rural and marginal areas
of the less-developed countries, which are heavily influenced by several factors,
including ecological conditions, not only requires awareness of environmental and
structural changes, but also requires awareness of the effects of decision-making
institutions and the spatial changes resulting from it. In less developed countries,
including Iran, low productivity and low yield factors are considered the main
challenges facing agricultural sector. One of the major challenges affecting the
production function, especially in the field of date palm gardening, is the ecological
and climatic conditions. Such a condition cannot be disrupted by human actions.
Makkoran Area is climatically located in a dry, warm and very hot desert area with
special conditions of rain (monsoon rainfall). Palm tree farming activities in this
area faces many challenges, particularly in terms of adaptation to the climate. The
present study seeks to trace and construct spatial relationships (networks) involved
in the climate adaptation of date palms and emphasize its functional development
in order to develop local economy in Makkoran Area of Iran.2. Review of Literature
Previous researches have examined production efficiency in date palm gardening
often in two dimensions. Some have examined production efficiency related to
structural and human factors (such as institutional barriers to achieving subsidies,
access to agricultural services, production costs, etc.) and few studies have
examined the distribution of date palm trees and the possibility of its economic
production under the influence of climate change.
Lutfi (2010) examined the effect of production performance on date palm trees
productivity in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Tunisia and Iraq, and showed
that replacing them with high-quality cultivars is one of the main problems in
reducing date palm productivity. Al-Abbad, Al-Jamal, Al-Alawi, Al-Sharid and
Belifa (2011) investigated the economic feasibility of date palm trees cultivation in
Saudi Arabia. They argued institutional barriers for accessing subsidies as a major
threat. Shabani, Kumar and Taylor (2012) probed the effect of climate change on
the distribution of date palms in the world and based on the results, some countries
and regions such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and southwestern Iran will face restrictions
in the future in terms of date palm trees climate adaptation.
But so far no study has investigated how the spatial relationships between actors
(human and inhuman) shape the date palm economy especially in the production
sector and how it is possible to define the climate adaptation mechanism of date
palm via a relational (network) approach. Therefore this issue is strongly felt in
Iran especially in economic agricultural and geographical studies.
In the present study, the actor-network theory is considered as a theoretical
framework. The main theme of the actor-network theory is that the action of the
combination of human beings and non-human substances in a network is created.
This means that the theory combines all (human and non-human) actors and denies
purely social, technical, or purely natural affinities. It deals with the detection and
tracking of links between a variety of actors (human, non-human, material, and
discursive) that allows actors, events and processes to emerge as they are.
Nowadays researchers, including geographers, follow a similar path that tracks
heterogeneous strings of things to understand the construction of the social within
the public. Instead of a social actor, this theory focuses on the social and material
world in which the social-material actor is called the actant, and instead of a stable
network with nodes, it shows the fluidity and unpredictability of the cohabitation of
actors who have adopted the intellectual root of Deleuze.
3. Method
This research was conducted based on a mixed-methods (sequential strategyvariable) approach. The statistical population consisted of 17493 exploiters of date palms in the villages of Makkoran Area. The purposive-probabilistic method was used for sampling. For determining the sample size at the qualitative stage, the
adequacy of information criterion and in the quantitative stage, the
representativeness criterion was employed via the Cochran formula. Sample size
at the qualitative stage was 111 exploiters of date palms and 16 experts. In the
quantitative phase, 376 exploiters of date palms and 32 experts answered the quantitative questionnaire. The type of mixed analysis in the study is “the mixedmethods sequential explanatory analysis based on a qualitative-quantitative
strategy. Qualitative data were analyzed using NVIVO software, and quantitative
data with statistical methods in SPSS software environment. In the final stage,
analysis and inference of data were done according to Latour's (1987) arguments of
the translation method.
4. Results and Discussion
Findings showed that there are complex and multi-faceted spatial relationships
occur between human and non-human actors regarding the climate adaptation of
date palm trees. In this regard, the geographic location and climatic actors are
restrictive actors and barriers for the adaptation of indigenous date palm types are
beneficial actors and provide favorable conditions for the production of dates.
Also, these restricting actors are involved with other varieties of date palms (nonindigenous types) and mediated by the exploiter and the government (the
Agricultural Jihad Organization) has become capable or opportunity-constructing
actors. In other words, date palms, as a key actor due to geographical location and
climate action, both restricts and provides conditions for the emergence of newer
opportunities (the cultivation of new, compatible and exportable types). Hence,
each one of the actors has a force field that influences the other and takes action on
other or resist against other’s action in the form of pressure and reaction of date
palms’ climate adaptability. Therefore, date palms have multi-faceted and
reciprocal power relations in terms of pressure-resistance concept with geographic
location (latitude and longitude) and climatic actors, which are mediated by
exploiters, economy, government, land, and water.
5. Conclusion
Among the actors of the geographical and climatic location, the relative humidity,
altitude, latitude, temperature, rainfall, intensity of the solar radiation, and
longitude have a wider and stronger spatial network and, as main determinants play
roles in climate adaptation of date palms. Other climate actors, such as
evapotranspiration, monsoon flows, and wind speed are also less restricting and
weaker in spatial relationships. Therefore, spatial relationships between actors
showed that date palms, exploiters, climate, geographic location, government (the
Agricultural Jihad Organization), water, capital, and land are key actors in the
adaptability of date palms, respectively.
