Pathway to Sustainable Food Security through Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Diversification: A Case Study of Rural Areas Surrounding the Tehran Metropolis

Introduction

In recent years, food security has emerged as one of the most critical challenges in developing countries, particularly in rural and agricultural regions (World Bank, 2025). Although various policies and programs have been implemented to increase food production, the excessive focus on physical output, without sufficient attention to human and institutional factors, has failed to ensure the long-term sustainability of food security (Edwards et al., 2024). Farmers, as the primary agents of food production and supply in rural areas, play a crucial role in meeting the nutritional needs of large populations (Sunday et al., 2023). Consequently, actively empowering farmers to participate in social transformation processes in rural areas has become a central strategy in many agricultural countries (Singh, 2024).

Empowerment is a process through which individuals acquire the capacity for agency and informed choice, enabling them to manage resources, make economic decisions, and engage in social participation (Haddad and Toney-Butler, 2023). In rural contexts, such empowerment increases farmers' human and social capital and paves the way for diversification into agricultural and non-agricultural activities (FAO, 2020). Diversification strengthens the resilience of rural communities to environmental, economic, and climate shocks (Edwards et al., 2024). As noted by the World Food Summit (1996), enhancing farmers' empowerment facilitates their growth from being "workable men" (not capable of making choices) to "working men" (capable of making choices), thereby encouraging their participation in sustainable food security initiatives (Balakrishnan, 2005). In the process of farmers' empowerment, the focus shifts from merely increasing food production to stimulating intrinsic motivation, improving behavior and perception, and positively influencing the diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural activities (Burgos and Mertens, 2017; Shafieisabet and Mirvahedi, 2021, 2022a; V Mathew and Kumar, 2014).

Empowerment is an ongoing behavioral and action-oriented change process to achieve desired goals, as articulated in Power Theory (Rappaport, 1987; Rowlands, 1995; Sen, 1995; Strzelecka et al., 2017). Theorists such as Foucault (1989), Giddens (1994), Fraser (1989), Harding (1995), and Hartsock (1999) have all emphasized the role of power dynamics in shaping individual and group agency. Accordingly, empowerment, delegation, and granting autonomy have been crucial strategies in state empowerment efforts. Empowering farmers provides an opportunity for them to act collaboratively as "working men" and creative agents rather than passive "workable men" and mere consumers (Perkins and Zimmerman, 1995). Based on Rowlands' (1995) perspective, enhancing farmers' levels of generative empowerment and increasing their control over socio-economic activities fosters innovative solutions to agricultural production challenges. In this context, power operates as either a facilitating or limiting factor for participation (Knight and Cottrell, 2016; Rowlands, 1995). Empowerment, aligned with power structures, may be generative (subjective) or non-generative (objective). Facilitating empowerment helps farmers transition from a state of "power over" to "power with" and "power within," enabling greater participation in sustainable food security programs.

The literature emphasizes that training, raising farmers' awareness, utilizing indigenous knowledge, empowering access to resources, and developing new skills across agriculture, industry, and services are critical for diversification and sustainable food security (Echebiri et al., 2017; Shafieisabet and Mirvahedi, 2023). Empowering farmers increases their capacity to innovate and diversify their agricultural and non-agricultural activities (Arslan et al., 2018). Farmers must increasingly seek income diversification between rural and urban sectors to mitigate risks to food security (Antonelli et al., 2022; Hertel et al., 2021). In recent decades, food security has been severely threatened by rising pressure on production capacity (Saleem et al., 2024). Nevertheless, dominant approaches in most developing countries have remained instrumental-technical, paying insufficient attention to empowerment processes (Healey, 1997; Shafieisabet and Mirvahedi, 2020). Despite numerous empowerment efforts by formal and governmental organizations in rural areas, limited success has been achieved due to inadequate farmer training and insufficient genuine empowerment initiatives. Centralized, top-down management structures have often reduced farmers' role to executing pre-determined programs without active engagement.

Thus, promoting farmers' generative empowerment indicators is a critical strategy to enhance diversification and sustainable food security. Addressing this gap can significantly improve key food security dimensions—availability, accessibility, utilization, and sustainability—within environmental-ecological, socio-economic, political-cultural, and infrastructural frameworks (Shafieisabet and Mirvahedi, 2021, 2022a). While many studies have examined the independent effects of empowerment on sustainable food security, few have simultaneously analyzed the role of empowerment-driven diversification in agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Therefore, to bridge this gap, the present study investigates this relationship from the farmers' perspective in rural settlements surrounding the Tehran metropolis.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer two fundamental questions:

(1) What impact has farmer empowerment had on the diversification of their agricultural and non-agricultural activities?

(2) To what extent has diversification of activities under the influence of empowerment improved dimensions of sustainable food security in the study villages?





2. Research Method

The villages surrounding Tehran’s metropolis were selected as representative rural areas to study practical and effective indicators (Figure 2). The choice of these villages was based on four main reasons:

First, in Iran, most rural centers are located around major metropolitan areas or large cities with significant demographic and economic concentrations across the 32 provinces.

Second, the Varamin plain has historically been a major agricultural and livestock production center in Tehran Province due to its fertile soil and the availability of suitable land and water resources. Its flat terrain and favorable conditions have long contributed to the prosperity of agricultural activities, making the study area critical for food security in both Tehran Province and Iran as a whole.

Third, the region’s strategic location near Tehran, Karaj, Qom, and other major cities has created favorable economic conditions for marketing agricultural products to urban consumer markets.

The present study employed an applied, descriptive-quantitative survey design. Data were collected through a field survey and analyzed using SPSS, Version 26. The field data collection focused on key indicators, including farmer empowerment, diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural activities, and sustainable rural food security.

The statistical population of the study included 163 villages with active agricultural activities. Based on the Central Limit Theorem and considering populations larger than 30, a random sample of 37 villages was selected through a multi-stage sampling method. According to the 2016 and 2018 census data, these villages contained a total of 3,127 farming households (Table 1).

In the first stage, one district from each county was randomly selected. In the second stage, within each selected district, one village was randomly chosen. Approximately ten villages with cultivated land were then selected from each district. Finally, the Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) method was used to determine the sample size in each village based on the number of farming households.

Based on the total number of farmers in the 37 villages (3,127 households), Cochran’s formula was applied to calculate a required sample size of 342 households with a 95% confidence level, 5% margin of error, and an estimated variance of 0.25. To ensure broader coverage and account for villages with fewer than 10 farming households, the sample size was increased to 400 households. Field data were collected using a structured questionnaire, with responses measured on a five-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = Very Low to 5 = Very High).



3. Finding and discussion

This study investigated the role of farmers' empowerment in promoting the diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural activities and its subsequent effects on sustainable food security in peri-urban rural areas surrounding the Tehran metropolis. The findings offer several important insights for the fields of rural development planning, agricultural sociology, and food security policy. First, the results demonstrate that farmers' empowerment—specifically through training and awareness-building, enhancement of knowledge and skills, improved access to resources, and institutional strengthening—substantially contributes to the diversification of activities. This supports the theoretical perspectives of generative empowerment (Rowlands, 1995) and community agency (Rappaport, 1987), highlighting that increased agency among rural populations is a catalyst for livelihood diversification. Such diversification is essential for building resilience against socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities. The particularly strong effect of training and awareness initiatives corroborates previous findings (Babatunde et al., 2022; Samman and Santos, 2009), emphasizing that investment in human capital is critical for enabling rural communities to broaden their economic activities beyond traditional agriculture. The observed patterns resonate with empirical evidence from Malawi (Mango et al., 2018) and Nigeria (Ajani and Igbokwe, 2013), where diversification was linked to improved household livelihoods. Additionally, the mediating role of diversification in enhancing sustainable food security across environmental-ecological, socio-economic, political-cultural, and infrastructural dimensions was clearly established. These results align with the emerging view that modern food security strategies must prioritize diversity, quality, and stability over mere production volumes (Edwards et al., 2024). From a rural development standpoint, the findings reaffirm the necessity of promoting diversified rural economies to counter the risks associated with monoculture dependency and rural-to-urban migration. Empowerment-driven diversification not only strengthens rural livelihoods but also fosters entrepreneurship, retains young populations, and enhances community resilience. Importantly, this study empirically validates a conceptual framework rooted in empowerment theories (Rowlands, 1995; Sen, 1995), bridging a significant gap in the literature by demonstrating the synergistic relationship between empowerment, diversification, and food security. However, moderate effects observed for institutionalization and resource access highlight persistent systemic barriers, suggesting that empowerment efforts must be complemented by broader institutional reforms. In summary, empowering farmers should be conceptualized as an ongoing, dynamic process that triggers diversification, enhances resilience, and contributes to the construction of sustainable rural food systems. Future research should further explore the long-term impacts of diversification and the differential empowerment pathways across gender and socio-economic groups to inform more inclusive rural development strategies.



4. Conclusion

This study provided empirical evidence confirming the critical role of farmers’ empowerment in promoting diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural activities, which in turn enhances sustainable food security in rural communities. The findings demonstrated that empowerment dimensions—particularly training, knowledge enhancement, access to resources, and institutional strengthening—significantly influenced the diversification of farmers' activities, thereby contributing to food security improvements. The results are consistent with previous research (Andersson Djurfeldt et al., 2018; Khatun and Roy, 2012; Nienaber and Slavič, 2013; Strömblad and Bengtsson, 2009), which emphasizing empowerment as a foundation for diversification. Furthermore, the observed positive effect of diversification on sustainable food security aligns with findings from (Cho et al., 2016), (Gani et al., 2019) and (Makate et al., 2016), reinforcing the argument that diversified livelihoods are vital for achieving long-term rural food security. By empirically validating the mediating role of activity diversification, the study confirmed that empowered farmers are more likely to actively participate in sustainable food security initiatives. Local diversification efforts facilitate the gradual formation of resilient economic systems, beginning with small-scale collaborations among farmers and expanding through shared knowledge and collective planning. The results highlight that strengthening empowerment initiatives not only improves individual capabilities but also addresses broader sustainable food security goals across environmental, socio-economic, political, and infrastructural domains. Therefore, rural development strategies must integrate empowerment frameworks with diversification policies to ensure inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems. In conclusion, empowerment and diversification are mutually reinforcing processes critical to rural transformation. Policymakers and development practitioners must prioritize both dimensions—enhancing farmers' agency and expanding livelihood options—to achieve sustainable food security outcomes in Peri-urban contexts.