the impact of rural production cooperatives on sustainable rural development: a case of kashan’s rural production cooperatives

Purpose: this study aims to investigate the impact of rural production cooperatives on improving the land use system and its environmental, social and economic consequences on sustainable local development in kashan, iran. methods: this is an applied, descriptive-analytical study. the field and survey methods and the questionnaire were used for data collection. the statistical population consisted of 2761 farmers and exploiters who were members of rural production cooperatives in 10 villages and three cities in kashan, of whom, 340 people were randomly selected as the sample size by cochran's formula. results: results showed a significant relationship between the formation of the rural production cooperatives in kashan and the sustainability of agricultural land use, increase in agricultural production and increase in income of exploiters of rural production cooperatives (sig = 0.05). conclusion: the article revealed that rural production cooperatives should be regarded as an efficient exploitation system affecting sustainable rural development.