Relational Tracing and Construction of Economic Development Palm Tree Spaces; Commercial Ability of Date Product in Makkoran Area

• Published in: Faṣlnāmah-i pizhūhishʹhā-yi rūstāyī Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 488 - 507
• Main Authors: Hadi Rasti, Hamid Barghi, Seyyed Eskandar Seidaiy, Faramarz Barimani
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Persian
• Published: University of Tehran 01.11.2019
• Subjects: commercialization; date palms; human and non-human actors; makkoran area; spatial relations
• ISSN: 2008-7373; 2423-7787
• DOI: 10.22059/jrur.2019.283378.1368

Date palm gardening economy has faced with many challenges in function, production, maintenance infrastructure, and marketing in the less developed countries, including Iran- which is the major producer of this product. Therefore, understanding the nature and relational dynamics that exist between actors is of great importance. Accordingly, this study aims to trace and construct a spatial relationships between human and nonhuman actors in the field of commercial ability of date palms to develop the functions of date palm economy in the Makkoran area. This research is conducted based on a mixed-methods (sequential strategy-variable) approach. The statistical population of the research consists of 17493 farmers and 32 agricultural experts. A purposive-probabilistic sampling method is used for sampling. For determining the sample size in the qualitative stage, the "adequacy of information" method, and the "representativeness" method based on the Cochran formula is employed in the quantitative stage.  The type of analytical method used in the study is "Sequential Combinatorial Analysis" based on a sequential qualitative-quantitative strategy. Qualitative data is analyzed using "NVIVO" software, and quantitative one is analyzed using statistical methods in the SPSS software environment. Final analysis and inference of data are based on Latour's argument (1987) in the "translation" method. The findings of the study show that various spatial relationships between actors (human and inhuman) are established or developing. Based on these relationships, factors such as geographical location, climate, date palm, farmer, capital, target market, refrigerator, government, spatial distance, transportation technology are considered as the key and active actors in commercialization of date palm as they shape a broader and stronger network of actors with durable relationships.