Identifying the driving factors of the application of renewable energies in small holder farming systems of the Tafresh County

Razeghi, Marzieh; Shaabanali Fami, Hossein; Rezaei, Roholla

doi:10.22059/ijaedr.2013.36077

Identifying the driving factors of the application of renewable energies in small holder farming systems of the Tafresh County

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Marzieh Razeghi ¹

Hossein Shaabanali Fami ²

Roholla Rezaei ³

¹ M.Sc. Student Rural Development, University of Zanjan

² Associate Professor, Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran

³ Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan

10.22059/ijaedr.2013.36077

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to identify driving factors of application of renewable energies in smallholder farming systems of the Tafresh County. A descriptive survey method was used for collecting the data. The statistical population of the study consisted of 2470 small farmers working in the smallholder farming systems of the region, in which 300 people were selected as sample using the Krejcie & Morgan table and the stratified random sampling technique (rural district as strata). A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of faculty members in universities of Tehran and Zanjan and some experts in the field of renewable energies. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. The Cronbach alpha's coefficient for the main scales of the questionnaire was higher than 0.75. The results of factor analysis showed that five factors, namely, knowledge informative, psychological characteristics, development and diversity of agricultural production, increasing the cultivated land and development of animal keeping explained 44.94 percent of total variances of driving factors of application of renewable energies in the smallholder farming systems of the Tafresh County.

Keywords

Driving factors

renewable energy resources

smallholder farming system

technology of renewable energies