Evaluation of the cultivation and production obstacles of sugar beet: A Case Study of Kiyar County in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari Province

Currently, the country's annual consumption of sugar is about 2-2.5 million tons and its annual production volume is about 1.6 million tons. As a result, the country's deficit in sugar production is met through imports. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the barriers to the production of this important strategic product.

In this study, the amount of rainfall recorded at the Kiyar meteorological station and also the data of Hafshejan sugar factory including cultivated area and sugar beet yield in the basin of Kiyar in the period 2012-2020 were investigated. Then the barriers of sugar beet cultivation were investigated. The data collection tool was a questionnaire and the Statistical population included 480 farmers. The sample size was determined by simple random sampling using the Morgan method, which resulted in 215 farmers. In order to analyze the data, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics methods were used. In descriptive statistics, population characteristics and statistical indices such as, standard deviation, medium, minimum and maximum values of barriers were expressed. In the inferential statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated using SPSS20 software. Friedman test was used to rank the effect of each barrier on sugar beet cultivation. The obstacles and difficulties of sugar beet cultivation were studied in seven factors: financial, economic, technical, social, motivational, climate factors and supporting barriers.

The majority of participants in the survey was 40 years old and has diploma education. In the crop year 2016-2017 the area under sugar beet cultivation with 606 hectares was the highest in Kiyar County which was significantly reduced in subsequent years. The average scores of financial (78.41), motivation (65.23) and support barriers (56.38) were less than their median (79.26, 66.38 and 57.72, respectively). Friedman test achieved the highest ranking of technical barriers with average score of 6/59 followed by two factors economic barriers and financial barriers with average score of 5/44 and 4/52. Correlation between cultivation of sugar beet with financial, economic, technical and motivational barriers was positive and significant at the probability of 1% (0.745, 0.740, 0.862 and 0.723, respectively) and with social, climatic and supportive obstacles was positive and significant at 5% probability (0.623, 0.516 and 0.612, respectively).

Therefore, in order to increase the cultivation and production of sugar beet, these barriers should be considered. Providing financial credits, improving technologies, increasing technical training and effective government intervention in pricing processes are some suitable strategies to overcome these barriers.