Sustainable economic rural development system pattern in Ghaemshahr: an application of the developed TOP-MARD core model

Abstract

Attention to rural development is an important and undeniable necessity of regional and national development in any country. As a result, in this study, this issue has been assessed in the villages of Ghaemshahr city of Mazandaran Province in Iran. In this regard, the developed model of TOPMARD Core Model and 382 samples of villagers in Ghaemshahr city have been used. Vensim software has been used to analyze the information. Indicators used in this model include economic, social, environmental, physical, tourism and welfare indicators of villages. Three scenarios of agricultural support, non-agricultural support and environmental education were simulated. The model simulation results for existing conditions indicate that the welfare of villagers is declining over the coming years and the migration process from village to cities are increasing. The results of various policy simulations showed that the implementation of policies to increase the guaranteed price of purchases of agricultural products, increase the input support along with environmental education in order to understand the amount and manner of using fertilizer and pesticide and improvement in infrastructure and physical facilities such as creation, educational, health, cultural and rural infrastructure, including suitable roads for easier and less costly access to the market, as well as the presence of tourists to the villages, can play an important role in improving of the well-being of villagers, reducing poverty gap and reducing migration to the cities.