An Assessment of the of Levels of Farming System Sustainability among Wheat Growing Farmers in Agricultural Production Cooperatives      (Fars Province)

Hasanshahi, Hajar; Iravani, Hooshang; Kalantari, Khalil

An Assessment of the of Levels of Farming System Sustainability among Wheat Growing Farmers in Agricultural Production Cooperatives (Fars Province)

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Abstract

Agricultural Sustainability (AS) in Farming Systems has turned into an extremely sensitive issue, which has attracted the attention of most researchers in recent years. The Main objective of this survey research was to assess the situation with regard to different levels of farming system sustainability among wheat growing farmers in Agricultural Production Cooperatives in Fars Province of Iran. All farmers who were members of agricultural cooperatives, were included in the study (N=2700) of whom 132 were selected through Proportional Stratified-randomization method. The reliability of the instrument was determined through Cronbach's Alpha (0.76). Study instrument was sent to the agricultural experts in Research Center, Fars Province to be tested for face validity. The results of Cluster Analysis Technique revealed that the Agricultural Production Cooperatives (APCs) in Arsenjan, Marvdasht and Darab Counties; Lar and Eghlid counties; and Abade county stood in unsustainable, semi sustainable and sustainable categories respectively. Also, results revealed that farming systems were categorized into three levels of sustainability namely sustainable (30.2%), semi-sustainable (43.1%) and unsustainable (26.7%).

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