Document Type : Research Paper
Abstract
The remoteness, marginality and lack of stability in border regions of our country are situational factors that have detrimental effect on the development of these regions. The strategic significance of these regions necessitates the intervention of an external factor to guarantee their development as well as the exploitation of their situational potentials. Cooperatives of border dwellers can have a major role in the stable land development of the border regions. Southern Khorasan, as a border province, has paramount security and strategic importance in providing national security; however, it is one of the least developed regions in our country and to develop it, we can focus on the potentials of the cooperatives section. This province has more than 430 kilometers common border with Afghanistan and has twelve such cooperatives.
The present study is a library research and based on field survey. For the field survey, field observation, interview with the managers and authorities and questionnaires were used. At macro level, all the cooperatives of the border dwellers in the province and at micro level, all the families who were members of these cooperatives in Darmian made up the population of the research. At macro level the unit of analysis was the cooperatives and the managers of all cooperatives in the province (12 cases) received a pre-structured questionnaire. From among these twelve, six cooperatives were selected as the sample of the study based on the availability of their managers, activity level, date of establishment and number of members. At micro level, based on the spread of the member families (in 25 villages), the sample was drawn using stratified sampling and the result was a total number of 140 families. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. It was revealed that the selected cooperatives, in spite of marginal factors like long draught in the region, have had a positive impact upon the reduction of immigration, increase of income, economic welfare and development of the region and the research hypotheses were confirmed. In the qualitative analysis, using the strategic planning method of SWTO, some suggestions were given for increasing the efficacy of the cooperatives; these suggestions include more investment on the part of the government, and reduction of legal and functional restrictions of the cooperatives.
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