Farmer's Attitude of Rafsanjan County toward Pest Control Methods in 2014: A Short Report

Environment and human health conservation is very important in the use of chemical pesticides for pest control. The aim of this study was investigation of farmer's attitude toward pest control methods in Rafsanjan county.
This cross-sectional research was performed by field survey. The questionnaire consisted of questions on quality and quantity of pesticides and different pest control methods based on saaty’s scale The statistical population included 130 farmers in Rafsanjan. The data were reported by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and analyzed by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model.
The results showed that effectiveness and environmental criteria of pest control method had the highest and the lowest importance in farmers’ opinions, respectively. Therefore, chemical control had priority over other methods.
Chemical control method was the best method in pistachio farmers’ opinions, due to its more effectiveness in pest control. Therefore, farmers need to be educated and encouraged to use non-chemical and integrated methods to maintain their health and the environment.