Determinants of Change the Pattern of Rice Cultivation in Shushtar County Using Theory of Interpersonal Behavior Models and Health Belief Model

Today, the crisis of freshwater scarcity is a serious threat to the environment, health and human welfare. Agriculture as the main consumer of water and rice is one of the most water-using agricultural products. Therefore, it is necessary to change the crop pattern of rice to crops with less water requirement. In this study, two models of interpersonal behavior and health belief model were used to investigate rice producers` views and attitudes of Shushtar region in relation to changing the pattern of rice cultivation to a crop with less water requirement. The statistical population was Shushtar rice farmers, and a sample of 250 individuals was determined using Krejcie and Morgan table. Random multistage cluster sampling was used to select the sample farmers. The results of interpersonal behavior indicated that the moral norm had a positive and significant effect on the farmers' attitudes to change the pattern of cultivation. Also, the emotion had a positive and significant effect on their intention. The results of the health belief model also showed that the perceived benefit had a positive and significant effect on the intention. Therefore, both models have high potential to predict the attitudes and intentions of rice producers to change the cultivation pattern. Interpersonal behavior theory can predict 50 percent of the intent variable, and the health belief model is only able to explain 27percent of those changes. Therefore, the prediction power of interpersonal behavior model is stronger than the health belief model.