Investigating the effects of agricultural land use change on sustainable livelihoods of rural households (Case study: Sistan plain)

Land use change is one of the challenges of rural settlements that has been the focus of rural research in recent years, and one of the most important aspects of land use change is agricultural land use for reasons such as drought. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of agricultural land use change on sustainable livelihoods of rural households in the Sistan plain. The research method in this research is descriptive-analytical which has been done by two methods of library and field studies. In order to investigate the effects of land use change on sustainable livelihood, in addition to the researcher's questionnaire, GIS and remote sensing have been used. The rural statistical population in this study is four selected villages, Qala-e-Naw, Sarani, Gorg and Gholam Ali. Also, 40 people from the sample community were interviewed according to access conditions. The results of the study show that land changes have been very high in recent years and have had a significant impact on the villagers and their livelihood. These effects have been studied in three sections: resource productivity, agricultural production and livestock production. In the field of resource utilization, the results showed that land use change has led to excessive use of natural and God-given resources in this area, which has led to the destruction of thousands of shrubs and pastures, surface and subsurface water resources, more than Livestock grazing, etc., has led to the destruction of land in the region, especially agricultural land, and has led to soil erosion. In the livestock production sector, land use change has left many negative effects that can be reduced to milk and dairy products, reduce the number of livestock, increase livestock costs such as the cost of buying fodder, etc., movement and movement of livestock ‌ have been out of the village in order to graze. In the field of agricultural production, it can be said that the effects of land use change on agricultural production have been more than all sectors. Also, the results of remote sensing and geographic information system survey from 1972 to 2019 showed that the land use of Sistan region is changing drastically, so that in recent years, the area of agricultural land and water use has decreased sharply. And has grown into barren lands. The trend of these changes in the villages of Sistan region, which mostly provide their livelihood with agriculture and animal husbandry, indicates that these land use changes have had many negative effects on the livelihood of the villagers, which has resulted in rural disappearances.

Land use change is one of the challenges of rural settlements that has been the focus of rural research in recent years, and one of the most important aspects of land use change is agricultural land use for reasons such as drought. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of agricultural land use change on sustainable livelihoods of rural households in the Sistan plain. The research method in this research is descriptive-analytical which has been done by two methods of library and field studies. In order to investigate the effects of land use change on sustainable livelihood, in addition to the researcher's questionnaire, GIS and remote sensing have been used. The rural statistical population in this study is four selected villages, Qala-e-Naw, Sarani, Gorg and Gholam Ali. Also, 40 people from the sample community were interviewed according to access conditions. The results of the study show that land changes have been very high in recent years and have had a significant impact on the villagers and their livelihood. These effects have been studied in three sections: resource productivity, agricultural production and livestock production. In the field of resource utilization, the results showed that land use change has led to excessive use of natural and God-given resources in this area, which has led to the destruction of thousands of shrubs and pastures, surface and subsurface water resources, more than Livestock grazing, etc., has led to the destruction of land in the region, especially agricultural land, and has led to soil erosion. In the livestock production sector, land use change has left many negative effects that can be reduced to milk and dairy products, reduce the number of livestock, increase livestock costs such as the cost of buying fodder, etc., movement and movement of livestock ‌ have been out of the village in order to graze. In the field of agricultural production, it can be said that the effects of land use change on agricultural production have been more than all sectors. Also, the results of remote sensing and geographic information system survey from 1972 to 2019 showed that the land use of Sistan region is changing drastically, so that in recent years, the area of agricultural land and water use has decreased sharply. And has grown into barren lands. The trend of these changes in the villages of Sistan region, which mostly provide their livelihood with agriculture and animal husbandry, indicates that these land use changes have had many negative effects on the livelihood of the villagers, which has resulted in rural disappearances.