Analysis of Factors Influencing the Attitude of Rural Households of Shadegan Wetland on Agrobiodiversity

Shadegan Wetland as one of wetlands of the international Ramsar convention, has unparalleled Agrobiodiversity at its domain. In addition to agriculture and ranching, fishing, bird hunting, straw cutting and also harvesting forages from the wetland are possible benefits that are marginaly utilized. However, these exploitations will bring many threats to the life of wetland. Therefore, the necessity of NGOs participatory activities are tangible in the conservation and management of the wetland, and this would only be possible by understanding the attitude and knowledge levels of those involved. So, the present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the attitude of rural households and identify the important factors about agrobiodiversity at the domain of Shadegan Wetland using surveying method. The target population consisted of all rural households in the domain of Shadegan wetland (N=950). Sample were determined by using Morgan table and the Stratified proportional sampling, and 273 households were selected (n=273). The data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by using a panel of experts in Ramin University. Also, the reliability of it was obtained by a pilot test and using SPSSv20 software. The reliability results obtained for items of knowledge and attitudes, were 0.87 and 0.83, respectively. The findings indicated that 49.1 percent of the people living in the rural areas had a relatively negative attitude towards agrobiodiversity. Also the “knowledge” variable (with a coefficient of 0.548) was determined as the most variance of attitude.