The Effect of Occupational Hazard Perception on Efficiency and Mental Quality of Work Life of Farmers (Case Study: The Central Section of Bahabad County)

This study examines the level of farmers'' perception of hazards، as well as their impacts on efficiency and mentally quality of farmers'' life and profession. The relationship between each dimension of quality of work life and efficiency is studied too. he research method is descriptive and includes a survey of many selected villages in Yazd province (farmers in Central section of Bahabad County). The Statistic Society of research is a 1186 agricultural Operations. On the base of Cochrane formula; the authors have used cluster. In this study، farmers have been asked about subjects such as: what extent each of the natural and human hazards (listed in the questionnaire) caused perception of hazard in them. To evaluate the efficiency of farmers، related factors such as income، spending، interest and motivation، ability and skill، number of hours worked and the other factors have been examined. Personal reports of farmers about their quality of work life have been studied too. Another goal has been investigating the relationship between farmers'' personal characteristics (independent variables) with three variables: their Occupational hazard perception، efficiency and quality of work life (dependent variables). Spearman and Pearson correlation test has been used for this purpose. According to research، three questionnaires (Occupational hazard perception questionnaire، efficiency and quality of life questionnaire) have been designed and set up. The Components of each questionnaire are as fallows: after reviewing the experiences of domestic and foreign experts، library studies، observation case study، Interviews with experts Agricultural Jihad Organization، farmers and agricultural Professors of Geography and Rural Planning and Management were identified. In order to estimate the internal consistency of the questions، Cronbach''s alpha has been used. The coefficient obtained for the Occupational hazard perception questionnaire with 0/91 for quality of work life questionnaire with 82/0 and for efficiency questionnaires with 0/86 indicates high internal consistency of questions. Findings of Research: The obtained average for farmer Occupational hazard perception (34/115) indicated that the farmers feel hazard in their jobs، in a high level. Survey about the Quality of Work Life responses indicated that 59 percent of farmers were satisfied and 23% were dissatisfied. Farmers who have higher incomes and those who have participated in Jihad Agriculture extension classes، have been less faced with the Occupational hazard perception. On the one hand، with increasing levels of education، higher income، more work experience and participate in the classes increased agricultural efficiency; On the other hand، increasing age and the amount of land tenure، have caused low agricultural efficiency. Older farmers and the ones who are experience in agricultural jobs experience a lower quality of life. Farmers who have higher incomes and those who participate in organizations enjoy higher quality. On the other hand، farmers with more land experience a lower quality of work life. To investigate the relationship between the main variables of the study، the Pearson correlation test has been used. The results showed that there was negative correlation at 99% level between the Occupational hazard perception of farmers and efficiency of them. This meaned that with increasing Occupational hazard perception of farmers، their efficiency was low، and vice versa. Also there was negative correlation at 99% level between the Occupational hazard perception of farmers and their quality of work life. In other words، increasing the Occupational hazard perception of farmers، lowers their quality of work life; and vice versa. The results also showed that there was a positive significant relationship in level of 99% between the efficiency and quality of work life. This meaned that by increasing the efficiency of farmers، their quality of work life has been enhanced. The results of this study showed that the farmer Occupational hazard perception has been causes reduced efficiency and quality of work life. In fact the farmers with less Occupational hazard perception experienced greater efficiency and higher quality of work life.