نشریه علوم ترویج و آموزش کشاورزی
سال نهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 18، پاییز و زمستان 1392)

Nowadays, tendency of governments and extension decision makers have changed from economy dominance to privatization and decentralization. The purpose of this study was to identify effective factors on success of decentralization of agricultural extension services in Iran from administrators’ perspective. Survey study was applied as a methodology of research. Statistical population consisted Agricultural extension administrators of Iran out of them 95 extension administrators were selected as statistical sample through stratified random sampling technique. The research instrument was a questionnaire that its content and face validity were established by investigating the attitudes of specialists. Questionnaire reliability was estimated by calculating Cronbach's Alpha (α= 0.91). Findings revealed four factors, infrastructure elements, regulatory, human resources and supportive as effective factors. Implications that have been presented for success of decentralization of extension services are development of economic infrastructures, empowering farmers for participating in the programs and informing extension staff about goals and philosophy of decentralization programs.

Vermicompost production technology is the best way to optimize the use of organic wastes, due to the poor organic matter. In order to supply organic matter for agricultural sector and creating employment for rural women, vermicomposting project in Fars province was established. This study was conducted to investigate attitude of rural women to the social, economical, environmental and health impacts of vermicompost production in Fars province. The study population included all women involved producing vermicompost in Fars province. Questionnaire was used for data gathering. Stratified random sampling was used to collect data from of 40 sites and 151 rural women producing vermicompost. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients were obtained between 0.67 to 0.95.The findings showed that rural women have a favorable attitude towards the production of vermicompost. Attitude towards the production of vermicompost, vermicompost production’ motives, the number of members and the distance to the vegetables fields variables have been positive, direct and significant effects on women’s attitudes towards women vermicompost impacts. Results revealed that the average attitude of producers with four production periods in a year towards the economic is more than producers who have 2 or 3 production periods in a year because they earn more income from vermicompost production. Women who work in organized production system have higher positive attitude toward social and health impacts of vermicompost production than those who work in private site. The results indicated that the average attitude of women who only use animal manure for vermicompost production toward social, economic and environmental impacts of vermicompost production significantly higher than the average attitude of women who are using animal manure and other organic materials. Finally, practical recommendations have been provided for improving the production of vermicompost especially establishment of the attitude in management of wastes and identifying appropriate with suitable conditions to implementation the projects.

Farmers’ agricultural risk perception can influence their decision as the climate change is increased, as well as their need to adapt with these changes. This research was conducted to investigate the farmers’ perception toward climate change and their perception toward risk of agriculture work under conditions, as well as factors affecting their perception. Research sample including 307 farmers of Marvdasht township, Fars province, which were selected using Multi Stage Stratified Systematic Random Sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used for collecting data, and a panel of experts confirmed the face validity of the instrument. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for scale were obtained between 0.71 to 0.86. Research findings revealed that according to farmers’ perceptions the amount of climate changes and risk of agriculture work in this situation for most items was high. Based on regression analysis, four variables including wheat yield, perception toward climate change, perception toward existing problems with climate change and perception toward existing positive social norm for confronting with climate change, could explain 30.4 % of variation in farmers’ risk perception of agriculture work under climate change conditions.

One of the most important missions of higher education, is to train and to prepare efficient, competent and skillful workforce to meet real needs of the society in different fields of occupations. Among different factors, educational factors have a major impact either on educational achievement or on job satisfaction of the graduates. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze educational factors affecting job satisfaction of agricultural graduates of Yasouj University. Survey research method with a pre-structured questionnaire was used in this study. The validity of questionnaire was verified using face validity procedure and its reliability was calculated between 0.611 to 0.946 using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. A sample of 146 agricultural graduates was selected and also studied using Patten’s Random Sampling Table and Systematic Random Sampling procedure. Results showed that 47.9 percent of respondents were employed. 67.1 of them were satisfied with their jobs. The results of correlation analysis also showed that variables such as coping knowledge, practical knowledge, theoretical knowledge, equipment, teaching methods and relevance of the job to educated major have a statistically significant relationship with job satisfaction. Moreover, the results of Logistic regression revealed that variables such as educational mean, teaching methods, relevance, equipment and coping knowledge are the most important variables in predicting job satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting application of sustainable agricultural technologies and practices by potato farmers in the Ardabil region. Survey research method using a questionnaire was used in this study. A sample of 140 potato growers was selected from the population using Cochran sampling formula. Face to face interviewing method was conducted to complete closed and open ended questions. The instrument was validated by a panel of experts. A pilot study was conducted for reliability (Alpha= 0.87). Results showed that application of some traditional sustainable practices, such as weeding, conservation tillage and application of organic manure was optimum. Agrochemical's use according to expert's recommendation, such as applying recommended extent of fertilizers, timely application of N, optimum application of N and P, and selecting appropriate time for spraying was moderate to high. Application of some determinant practices for sustainability, such as soil testing, change in planting and harvesting times for pest control, retaining plant residues, low tillage and IPM were low to moderate, however, for other determinant technologies, such as simultaneous and intercropping, application of green manure, nonchemical pest control and seed disinfection, the application was low and very low. Results also showed that application of sustainable agricultural technologies and practices was negatively correlated with farming experiences and NP/h. as well as it was positively correlated with contact with information sources and participation in extension.

Agricultural society like other societies is changing continuously due to different reasons. In this regard, the most changes depend on farmer's attitudes and beliefs. Therefore, identifying the attitude of farmers toward change in cropping pattern is an important first step in understanding their behavior. The main purpose of this research was to analyze attitudes of rice growers in Savadkooh County regarding change in cropping pattern from rice to citrus production. For this purpose, a discovery approach with the aid of Q method was used. Then, a group of farmers in the county was selected purposively. The research instrument involved 60 Q cards which were finalized with respect to the dialog space. The participants reviewed the cards and arranged them in agree, disagree and neutral categories. The PQ- method software was used to analyze the data. The software has a high ability for identifying and categorizing attitude patterns regarding a phenomenon. Findings revealed that categorizing the Q cards were significant at the 0.01 level. It means that the attitude of farmers can be categorized. The Q analysis identified four district perspectives of changing in cropping pattern, which can be described as: convergence, detergence, overview, and neutral to change cropping pattern. Therefore, it is recommended that the agricultural experts should implement suitable approaches for organizing, leading and controlling the attitude of farmers and consequently provide cropping integration and increasing rice production.

Social impact assessment is a process that assesses or estimates social consequences which occur due to the implementation of a developmental project or special policy in national and provincial level. This research was conducted to assess social impact of Natural Resources Management Comprehensive Project in west part of Shiraz County (Bunroode Zangeneh sub watershed) as perceived by its beneficiaries to provide solutions to enhance the appropriateness of the project by using qualitative and quantitative research methods and survey technique and semi-structured interviews. The sample group in this study included 268 members of local Natural Resources and Watershed Management Cooperatives. Stratified random sampling was used to select the cooperatives members. In qualitative part of research, internal and external factors affecting the project were recognized and classified according to users’ viewpoint by using SWOT analysis. Twenty persons of the cooperatives members were selected as sample group for qualitative part of the research. Findings of this part of the research revealed that the project affected the social factors (human development, legal affairs toward land ownership). Internal analysis of the project revealed that compatibility of project goals with the interests of local people was one of the important social strengths of the project. Also, failure to adequately monitoring on the proper execution of the laws was one of the important social weaknesses of the project. External analysis of the project from users’ viewpoint revealed that existence of cooperatives and members’ participation was recognized as one of the important opportunities of the project. Also, changing attitudes towards the project as a result of changing the project managers was recognized as one of the important social threats of the project. Several recommendations have been presented at the end of the research to more appropriateness of the project execution in the future.

Extension service is the main institution in the process of rural’s institutional and human change. Thus, human resources of extension system are a key factor in the process of rural and agricultural development. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between quality of work life and extension experts’ task and contextual performance in Kerman Province, Iran. The statistical population of the study included agricultural extension experts who worked in the Jihad-e-Keshavarzi in Kerman Province. A sample of 123 experts from target population was selected according to Krejcie and Morgan’s Table by considering one percent confidence coefficient. A proportional stratified random sampling method was used. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed for the study. Validity of the questionnaire was approved by panel of experts. In order to measure the reliability of questionnaire, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was calculated. In order to analyze data, SPSSwin20 and LISREL8.5 were applied. Results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between all components of quality of work life and task along with contextual performance among extension experts (P<0.01). Furthermore, results related to structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that quality of work life could explain 44% and 34% of variations of extension experts’ task and contextual performance, respectively.

The main purpose of this study was to identify employability and self-employment areas in courses of agricultural extension and education. Major research used a survey methodology. The study’s statistical population consisted of 147 students and graduated majoring in agricultural extension and education between 2010-2011 academic year. Samples were 120 people which randomly selected. Data collection tool was a questionnaire which was face validated by a group of experts. Reliability of the variables was confirmed using calculating Cronbach's Alpha (α= 0.84 and 0.85). Both descriptive and analytical statistics were used in order to analyze data. Factor analysis results showed that the most important employability areas in agricultural extension and education courses were ability to design extension and education programs, produce extension and education media, educational and information technology, teach, and ability to start and conduct a business.