An Investigating of the Viewpoints of Nazarabad County Farmers about Subjective Indices of Sustainable Agriculture Farm Household Level

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Abstract

Recent debates concerning sustainable agriculture have received many attentions, but efforts concerning materialization of the concept haven’t enough. If the concept of sustainability is to be used as an underlying component of human interventions in the environment and ecosystem, a sound measure of sustainability is surely required. Development of agricultural sector without considering the condition of sustainable indices will damage society. Since Nazarabad county is one of the appropriate areas of Tehran province, and because of the recent changes taken place and going on in its structure of agriculture, on awareness of the condition of sustainable indices in this county is indispensable. The purpose of this research was to investigate viewpoints of farmers about subjective indices of sustainable agriculture at farm household level in Nazarabad County. This research was carried out applying a survey method. The research population consisted of 657 farmers of Nazarabad County (using stratified proportionate random sampling technique) from among whom 166 were selected. Instrument of data gathering was questionnaire. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was employed to determine the main scales of the questionnaire's reliability found equal to 0.88, 0.82 and 0.91 which was favorable. Validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by an experts' panel. Data analysis was accomplished using SPSS. Results from cluster Analysis indicated that %22.8 of subjective indices at the farm household level were sustainable; %28.6 of indices were relatively sustainable; and %48.6 unsustainable, So a majority of the subjective indices at the farm household level were concluded as unsustainable.

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