Factors affecting educational needs of strawberries growers in Mazandaran

This research was conducted to identify the educational and extensional needs of strawberry growers in Mazandaran province. The statistical population consisted of strawberry growers in five counties of Mazandaran province (with more than 70% of the province's production, N = 3000), 240 of them were selected by Cochran's formula and multi stage random sampling technique. Data was collected through a questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by faculty members of agricultural extension & education and horticulture departments in Sari Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources University and Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, also calculating Ordinal Theta revealed the suitable reliability of measuring instrument (range 0.78 to 0.86). Mean, standard deviation and spearman correlation, were used for data analysis and prioritization of needs as well as inferential statistics: mean rank comparison and ordinal regression. The results of study showed that three educational needs: stress tolerance, fruit quantity and fruit quality ranked first to third in importance. In tolerance to stress dimension, the resistance of the plant to winter cold and plant resistance to disease and pests were in the first and second priorities. In total, from 55 studied needs, fruit firmness in transfer was the most significant item. Based on Spearman’ correlation test, the variables of agricultural experience, education, income and daily work hours had significant relationship with the educational & extensional needs. According to ordinal regression results and Nagelkerke coefficient, these four variables can predict 59.7% of the changes in the educational and extensional needs of strawberries growers.