comparison of the components of irrigated wheat production in peasant, commercial and cooperative farming systems in kurdistan province, iran

the present study was conducted to investigate qualitative and quantitative aspects of irrigated wheat production in three major farming systems i.e. peasant, commercial and cooperative systems in kordestan province. accordingly, seven basic hypotheses were tested. the data were drawn from individual interviews with 360 farmers who planted wheat in 2004-2005. the sample was selected using multistage cluster technique. the results revealed that the peasant farming systems had significantly the lowest level of soil erosion and pollution. meanwhile, the findings indicated that employment hits lowest level in the cooperative farming systems. additionally, labor productivity was at the highest level in the same systems. however, cooperative farming systems had the lowest level of adaptability to the socio-economic conditions. in terms of production, peasant farming systems were more flexible than other systems. in sum, peasant farming systems paid more attention to environmental concerns, while cooperative farming systems focused on the production aspects. finally, this study recommends that in order to design an appropriate model, long term programs are needed to ensure a balance among these three farming systems. jel classification: c12, c83, d20, q01, q15