An Investigation of the Effect of Farmer Field School Project on Increasing Date Growers' Information Regarding Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Ali Mirzaei, Erfan; Movahed Mohammadi, Hamid; Tahmasbi, Maryam

An Investigation of the Effect of Farmer Field School Project on Increasing Date Growers' Information Regarding Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of farmer field school project on improving date growers' information regarding integrated pest management in Abadan County. The research was done through a descriptive survey by the use of quantitative paradigm. The statistical population consisted of two independent groups. The first: date growers who had been trained through IPM/FFS project and the second: their counterparts who had been simultaneously trained about date farms' IPM and through teacher-based courses. A sample of 66 farmers from the first group, and a sample of 106 farmers from the second group were randomly chosen. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of some faculty members of Iranian Date and Tropical Fruits Research Institute and some experts of Jihade Agriculture Organization of Abadan County. The reliability too, of the questionnaire was confirmed through an assessment of Coronbach' Alpha Coefficient (?=0.78). Findings revealed significant differences between the two groups in terms of IPM information. Also, the results of multiple regression indicated that the variable of presence in any of the IPM/FFS sections had the greatest share in a determination of dependent variables' variance (farmers' information regarding IPM).

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