A Study of Factors that Affect the Capability of Farmers in Risk Management (Case Study: Wheat Producers in Khorasan-E-Razavi Province)

Roosta, Korosh; Farajollah Hoseini, S. Jamal; Chizari, Mohammad; Hoseini, S. Mahmood

A Study of Factors that Affect the Capability of Farmers in Risk Management (Case Study: Wheat Producers in Khorasan-E-Razavi Province)

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Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate factors affecting the capaability of farmers in risk management. The statistical population consisted of 19536 wheat farmers from Khorasan-E-Razavi Province, Iran, who had been cultivating wheat during the farming year 2005- 2006 under the supervision of wheat experts. A stratified random sampling technique was employed, and while a number of 400 farmers consistituting the sample size of the study. The reliability and validity of the tools employed in the study were confirmed through pilot study and expert judgment. The results indicated that most threatening risks in wheat production were either natural or of economic nature and the most important strategies taken to confront them were either technological or financial ones. Correlational analysis revealed that there were significant relationships between a farmers’ capaability in risk management and his educational standing, his attitude towards risk, crop yield per unit land, level of land under wheat cultivation, total area of the cropping land, wheat marketing value, frequency and extent of consultation with agricultural experts and TV programs.

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