Economy

Khorasan Razavi Province is among provinces that has established several rural production corporations in recent decades. One of their main tasks of these corporations is to eliminate traditional filed structures and solving problems using new and modern agricultural tools. This paper studies the activities of RPC in Khorasan Razavi Province to achieve this goal. In this regard, performance of RPC in the covered villages of 24 counties has been studied based on 11 of infrastructural services and using variables TOPSIS technique and variable have been compared and ranked. Studies on RPC in Khorasan Razavi Province shows performance level of corporations in giving services to their members is not suitable. Among different counties, Nayshaboor, Torbat-Heydariyeh and Torbat-Jam counties have best performances and Kashmar, Kalat and Zaveh counties have worst performances in giving service to coverall villages. In addition, in this research effective factors on improvement of corporation performances(based on views of experts and corporation managers) in the form of 7 indexes’, have been studied using anthropic method. Based on expert views, state financed supports are the most important functions in exacting infrastructural activities. After that, management aspects, motivation and cooperation of members are effectives.

Todays, the importance of agricultural development and putting more value on it, unlike past days, is concluded from the fact that in the process of economic development program, an increasing attention is given to social welfare goals in addition to other goals of increasing revenue. In every society, at times of population increase, the increase of agricultural products, which is in direct relation with the rate of population increase, requires an increase of the productivity in existing lands relying on the improvement of farming techniques and irrigation systems. Basically, agricultural development means a transition of traditional techniques to modern industrial ways of production which includes top modern agricultural techniques like planting and harvest methods and the use of agricultural machinery. Agricultural mechanization is a new approach of providing the situation of promoting from traditional to modern agriculture. Additionally, it is considered as the most useful factor to help us achieve our goals of rural development. Machinery technology development is a matter of great importance in rural development strategies. Using technology in the process of rural development can lead to the elimination of barriers to production. As mechanization causes less difficulties and more money from agricultural activities, it makes farming more fascinating for villagers and stimulate them to continue their farming activities and prevent them continuously move to the cities. In this research, we are investigating possible consequences of mechanization and its effect on rural development of south Astarābād to find answers to the following questions:

This is an applied research which has been done using descriptive- analytical approach in a field study. For data analysis and interpretation, independent T test, Mann Whitney test, and the process of correlation analysis have been applied in SPSS software. Statistical population of the research consists of two types of agricultural households, a group of more mechanized households and another group of less mechanized ones, from 22 villages located in rural district of South Astarābād. A number of 10 villages (including 6 plain villages and 9 mountain villages) were chosen as sample society based on the total number of 6423 households and homogeneity of the villages in terms of geographical features. Using Cochran formula, the sample size of the society (190 households) was determined. Considering the population of each village, their participation in answering the questionnaires was determined. Questionnaires were delivered among different households in a simple random sampling way.

Discussion and conclusion
By its effect on timely agricultural operations and reducing production costs, agricultural mechanization plays an effective role in increasing revenues and consequently improving economic level and quality of life for agricultural uses. According to the results from the questionnaires a significant relation of a top confidence level (95 or 99%) is confirmed between agricultural mechanization with productivity and improvement of economic and social components. In this regard, the government plays a key role in the development of mechanization infrastructures such as integration, leveling, land drainage, giving low-interest loans and making decisions for agricultural institutions. Considering the fact that lower participation and self-help of operators and lack of education and awareness of the benefits of mechanization are the most important factors affecting the failure of the government and people in promoting mechanization, an overall management and programming by the government is inevitable to help us achieve our goals. The followings are suggested for the improvement of mechanization.

- Strong support of the government for infrastructure development of agricultural mechanization such as land consolidation, irrigation channels, land leveling and drainage, irrigation development, and construction of roads between farms;
- Reducing official bureaucracy and granting low-interest loans by banks to promote agricultural mechanization;
- Holding training and educational coursed for the introduction of proper use of machineries and their technology to the farmers.