An Analysis of Attitude of Karaj Citizens towards Participation in Community-Supported Agriculture

Shabanali Fami, Hossein; Ghasemi, Javad; Maleki Pour, Rahil; Sharifi, Omid

An Analysis of Attitude of Karaj Citizens towards Participation in Community-Supported Agriculture

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Abstract

The main objective of this descriptive- correlation research was to analyze attitude of Karaj citizens towards participation in community-supported agriculture. The statistical population of the study consisted of the heads of households residing in the 10 regions of Karaj (N=386008), out of whom 300 were determined as sample using Cochran Formula and proportionate stratified sampling technique. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by the judgment of a panel of faculty members of the department of Agricultural Extension and Education as experts. To measure the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach Alpha coefficients were calculated for the main scales of the questionnaire, which ranged from 0.84 to 0.95 indicating the reliability of the tool of the study. The findings revealed that the main purposes of citizens for participation in community-supported agriculture were: access to safer food, economic motivations and interest in nature and environment. The result of "t" test revealed that attitude of citizens for participating in community-supported agriculture were significantly different in terms of the numbers of contracted farms, place of birth, experience of direct purchasing of agricultural produce, as well as the gender of citizens.

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