The role of extension activities on drip irrigation acceptance by gardeners in Qaemshahr County

The role of agricultural extension and extension agents in increasing the gardener's ability, especially the way water management and the use of new irrigation methods, are felt more than ever. In this regard, this study aimed at investigating the role of extension activities on drip irrigation acceptance by gardeners in Qaemshahr County, Mazandaran Province. 20299 members of gardeners were selected as the statistical population of the study, and 248 of whom were selected as the study sample based on Cochran's formula and with random sampling method. Data collection was done using a researcher-made questionnaire composed of two parts of extension (Gardener's attitudes towards extension training activities, the status of providing education, the amount of innovations and technologies, the amount of communication channels used) and rate of drip irrigation acceptance. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts' opinions. Also, based on the average variance extracted (0.515 >AVE< 0.718) and composite reliability (0.913 >CR < 0.985), the questionnaire had a convergent validity and appropriate reliability. SPSS16 and Smart PLS2 software were used to analyze the data. The achieved results of the research showed that extension had a significant impact on the rate of drip irrigation acceptance by gardeners (With path coefficient= 0.616). According to the achieved results of the research, It is recommended that by carefully planning, the potential of agricultural extension for accepting drip irrigation and the effective use of agricultural water be used.