The assessment of socio- economic impacts of Henna culture: the case of Mohammad-Abad Township of Ghalehganj County

The aim of this research was to assess socio-economic impacts of Henna culture in rural regions of Mohammad-Abad Township of Ghalehganj County. Thus, a causal- comparative research method was used in this study. To select research sample, at first 20 villages were selected as the main Henna growing areas. Then, Numerical Taxonomy technique was used to select homogenous regions between them. In this study, farmers were divided into three groups i.e. Henna growers, non-Henna growers in villages with Henna growing and non-Henna growers in villages without Henna growing. Research population included 1241 farmers that about 298 ones of them were selected as research sample using Kerjecie and Morgan random sampling table and stratified random sampling technique. Also, a researcher designed questionnaire was used to collect data which its validity was verified using face validity procedure and its reliability was either verified calculating Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient (from 0.63 to 0.93). The comparison of current situation of socio economic criteria between the supposed groups showed that Henna growers have a better socio- economic status. To ensure that if this difference is the result of Henna growing, Covariance analysis was used. Final results also verified that Henna growing have had statistically significant and positive effects on socio- economic status of the respondents.