The role of extension education in development of organic agriculture in Iranian villages

Using various pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers, excessive exploitation of basic natural resources in agriculture and also, excessive application of fossil energies in agricultural sector all together, have a serious role in impurity of farm products, as well as environmental pollution in the villages. Although these cases had finally led to quantitative increase of the farm products in industrial and agricultural sectors, they have arisen some harms and challenges in long term. The focal point of this article is the ever-increasing pollution of raw agricultural products and processed foods with herbal poisons, herbicides, antibiotics, and herbal and livestock hormones. One of the most important harms is the fact that the pollution of these chemical residuals has not only led to unknown diseases among people but also brought about the destruction and erosion of basic agricultural resources, as well as the destruction of the environments for the human, plant, and animal communities. The research method used in this article is clinical study or clinical diagnosis which, in some farms, is known as “pure production fields” in rural areas. The aim of this study is to examine the role of extension education in the development of organic agriculture in the Iranian villages. Decreasing the costs of human medical treatments, increasing the quality and quantity and as a result, the exportation of the agricultural products, as well as the conservation of the environment all together, need an attitude towards environmental and agricultural production in a sustainable and organic manner which itself, is in need of the presence of a comprehensive extension education system. This system is based on three main elements: continuous training, self-help incentives, and expanding the rural participation, parallel to “sustainable development of human resources”. At the end, some forwarding strategies in the process of the acceptance of the production methods in the organic agricultural system have been mentioned. These in fact, are parts of the messages and training materials which the extension education system tries to disseminate among the people in rural areas.