Identifying the Views of Experts of Agriculture Jihad Organization on Factors Affecting Educational Requirements of Organic Agricultural Development (Case Study: East Azarbaijan Province)

Education is a major factor in agricultural development. Specialist and researcher training is the most important factor in the development of organic farming. This manpower can include all the actors involved in this agricultural system. The purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting the educational requirements of organic farming from the perspective of agricultural experts. The statistical population of this study was Experts of East Azarbaijan Agriculture Jihad Organization (N = 837). For this statistical population, using the Krejcie and Morgan table, a sample size of 264 was determined. To reduce the error and the coverage of unanswered questionnaires, the number was increased to 310 and were studied by simple random sampling. Questionnaire was the main tool for data collection in this study. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by faculty members of Tehran University and its reliability was confirmed by ordinal theta coefficient. Factor analysis results showed that the factors affecting the educational requirements of organic farming development can be summarized in six policy, management, research, extension, agronomic and consumption factors. These factors together explained for 58 percent of the variance in the variables affecting the educational requirements of organic farming development. Based on the results, the establishment of training courses in Integrated Pest Management (IPM), agricultural marketing, agricultural entrepreneurship with organic farming focus, as well as further research on reducing the cost of producing organic products are suggested.