Withe respect to importance of the effects of mechanization on rural employment, a study was made on the determinants of labor demand in Fars province of Iran. Tow staged cluster sampling method was used and 27 villages in Marvdasht and Mamasani townships were selected and a sample of 70 sugar beet producers was chosen for interview. After data Collection the farmers were classified in to mechanized and semi-mechanized groups and their demand functions for labor were estiamated. Results of the study revealed that needed labor per hectare would decrease with increase in mechanization and amounts of labor per hectare for less mechanized class was 1.72 times more than mechanized one. With mechanization of all farming practices except irrigation,machinery use in hours was increased by 1.26 times. On the whole, mechanization has reduced the amount of family labor more than hired labor.
Labor demand coefficients in relation to wages were decreasing and in relation to cultivated land,irrigation turns, seeds and fertilizer were increassing in both classes. Demand elasticities for all factors were decreasing with increase in mechanization but were more than one in both groups which indicates that there was a capacity to absorb more labor especially in case of increase in cultivated area and water for better irrigation.
)