Reza Movahedi; Nasrin Ghaderi Moghtader; Hamid Balali; Maryam Shirkhani
Abstract
This study has aimed to analyze the farmers’ skills on optimal use of agricultural water resources; since the skills are a reflection of knowledge, attitude, and facilities. The target population of this study was all farmers from Bahar County, Hamedan province (N=1931) that 271 of them were selected ...
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This study has aimed to analyze the farmers’ skills on optimal use of agricultural water resources; since the skills are a reflection of knowledge, attitude, and facilities. The target population of this study was all farmers from Bahar County, Hamedan province (N=1931) that 271 of them were selected by random sampling according to Cochran formula. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire which its validity confirmed by a group of relevant experts and the reliability of the variables was calculated using ordinal alpha coefficient (α=0.85-0.93). There were significant differences between Knowledge and skills about optimal use of agricultural water resources of Farmers that participated in related training courses and those didn’t participate, according to the results of Mann-Whitney test. Also farmers categorized based on the land ownership, information resources and water supplies were significantly different in terms of their water management skills, according to the results of Kruskal-Wallis test. According to the results of Spearmans’ correlation tests, there were positive significant relationships between skills with variables of knowledge, attitude, and number of land plots; while this variable was negatively and significantly correlated with the amount of the annual production, total hectares of rainfed lands, and the amount of using chemical fertilizers. Moreover, based on the result of ordinal regression, 50.9% of the skills variations could be explained by three variables as the farmers' knowledge and attitude and number of land plots.
Reza movahedi; faeze goli; Hamid Balali
Abstract
Abstract The main purpose of this study was to explore extension- training factors affecting the agricultural water management in Hamadan's potato production. This research has been done through a surveying method and data were gathered through a questionnaire tool. The study's population included 2341 ...
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Abstract The main purpose of this study was to explore extension- training factors affecting the agricultural water management in Hamadan's potato production. This research has been done through a surveying method and data were gathered through a questionnaire tool. The study's population included 2341 potato farmers around Hamedan, which of those 330 samples were selected based on Cochran formula by a simple randomized sampling method. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a team of agricultural experts and professors in agricultural extension and education department of Bu-Ali Sina University. The reliability of the research instrument was determined using Ordinal theta coefficient (θ= 0/80-0/95). The results of the factor analysis showed that the factors affecting on agricultural water management can be classified in 6 groups. These were: the mass media factor, quality of extension services centers, experts' skills, local institutions and social networks, visit system, and training courses. These factors explained 70 percent of the total variance changes. Results from ordinal regression analysis indicated that knowledge, extension-training factors, and attitudes explained 25 percent of the probability of variance of agricultural water management variable.
