Assessing Farmers' Sustainable Agricultural Practice Needs: The Case of Corn Growers in Fars, Iran

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to assess farmers' Sustainable Agricultural Practice Needs (SAPN) as determined conversely by their level of technical knowledge and understanding of sustainable corn farming practices. The population of this study consisted of all corn growers in Fars, a southern province of Iran. A questionnaire was developed to gather the information required from 159 randomly selected farmers. Farmer’s demographic and professional characteristics, including their level of technical knowledge, access to information sources, and level of mechanization were considered to be independent variables of the study. The SAPN was the dependent variable of the study. The result showed that a considerable numbers of farmers (46%) have a "high" level of needs concerning sustainable agricultural practice. The farmers' level of technical knowledge showed to have a substantial (r= -0.64) and negative association with their SAPNs. Multivariate linear regression analysis indicated that 49.3% (R2=0.493) of the variance in SAPNs could be explained by the farmers' age, their access to information sources, and their level of technical knowledge. This implied that a substantial amount of variability (about 51%) in SAPNs are explained by other variables that were not studied in this research. Further study is needed to determine factors affecting SAPNs and extend of the impact.