factors affecting agricultural mechanization: a case study on sunflower seed farms in iran

the primary purpose of this research study was to determine the major factors affect-ing the implementation of national agricultural mechanization programs in iran. the sec-ondary purpose of this study was to assess the agricultural mechanization level practiced by farmers. this project consisted of two phases. in the first phase of the study, a delphi technique was used to gather experts' points of view on variables affecting agricultural mechanization implementation programs in iran. the second phase of the study was de-signed to assess the agricultural mechanization level practiced by farmers growing sun-flower seeds. the delphi technique investigation showed that the main constraints on farm mechanization were “small farm size” and “fragmentation of holdings”. the find-ings of the second phase of this research indicated that the mean agricultural mechaniza-tion level practiced on the sunflower producing farms was about 0.5 kw per ha of culti-vated land. however the amount of energy input varied between 0.0149 to 3.4973 kw. multivariate linear regression of the study indicated that 46.9% (r2= 0.469) of the vari-ance in the level of agricultural mechanization practiced could be explained by variables such as income, total farming land, and land holdings under sunflower seed cultivation.