Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 21 ISSUE 1
Written by Amir Ali FARIDI, Mohammad KAVOOSI-KALASHAMI, Hamid EL-BILALI

Iran, and especially its northern provinces, lose a large amount of agricultural soil annually due to erosion, and this is one of the reasons why productivity in Iranian agriculture is low. Hence, there is a great need for measures to protect water and soil resources and prevent their pollution, which are called “water and soil conservation measures” (WSCM). The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that were effective in determining the adoption of WSCM by farmers in Lasht-e-Nesha district (northern Iran). Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the variables of the total amount of rice production, cooperation with other farmers and participation in development-extension and training courses, which all are quantitative, had a positive and significant relationship with the adoption of WSCM. Other quantitative variables used in this study (e.g. number of household members, farmer's experience in rice cultivation, farm size, number of paddy plots, dealing with other agricultural activities) showed a negative and significant relationship with the adoption of WSCM. Also, all the attitudinal variables used in this study, including behavioral intention, facilitating conditions and initial trust, had a strong, positive and significant effect on the adoption of WSCM by Lasht-e-Nesha farmers. The strong suggestion of the authors of this article is that by holding various meetings in rural areas and the presence of experts in all branches of agriculture, especially water and soil, farmers should be more familiar with the benefits and efficiency of WSCM.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1