Identifying some Restraining Variable Factors Affecting Date Grower Organizations development in Khuzestan Province

Alimirzaei, Erfan; Asaady, Ali; Malek Mohammadi, Iraj; Tahmasbi, Maryam

doi:10.22059/ijaedr.2012.24807

Identifying some Restraining Variable Factors Affecting Date Grower Organizations development in Khuzestan Province

Authors

Erfan Alimirzaei

Ali Asaady

Iraj Malek Mohammadi

Maryam Tahmasbi

10.22059/ijaedr.2012.24807

Abstract

The purpose followed in this study was to identify the restraining factors affecting date grower organizations, development in Khuzestan Province. The statistical population consisted of two independent groups including 584 members of date grower organizations and 30 experts from the related governmental agencies. A sample of 120 farmers from date growers' group was chosen through Stratified Random Sampling. On the other hand, because of being small in number, all the experts were taken into census. Researcher- developed questionnaire the content validity of which was confirmed by three proficient experts and two managers of farmers' organizations was employed to collect data. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient calculated through pre-test, indicated acceptable reliability for different parts of the research instrument. SPSS/WIN software was employed to analyze the data. According to the findings, six cases were identified as the main preventive variables adversely affecting date grower organizations as from the view point of farmers and experts. These induded: financial weakness of members; weakness in infrastructure; low prices of date along with its vacillation in the markets; lack of customer; discrimination on the side of the government or local authorities; and unreal deceptive promises to farmers for organizing themselves into date grower organizations.

Keywords

Farmers' organization

Local participation

Restraining factors

Small Scale Farmers