Explaining the behavioral intention of organic production among pistachio farmers in the central part of Ardakan county, Yazd province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Tahereh Sharghi
• Mojtaba Rezaee

Department of Agriculture, University of Payame Noor, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Keywords

• Behavior change
• Knowledge of organic production
• Moral norm
• Intention to produce organic pistachios
• Ardakan county

20.1001.1.20084838.1402.54.2.11.8

Main Subjects

• Agricultural Economics, Extension and Education, Development, , ....

Extended Abstract

Objectives

The use of pesticides in agriculture in developing countries is increasing rapidly, and this is despite the fact that the effects of its use not only on the creatures and the environment, but also on humans have many negative health consequences in the short term and long term. One of the topics that includes good agricultural activities, can improve food safety and security and provide environmental benefits such as improving water and soil quality, is organic agriculture. Since the achievement of healthy and organic farming requires changing the behavior of farmers, therefore, in this study, the conceptual framework of the developed model of planned behavior, which includes the moral norm variable, as well as the technology acceptance model along with the organic production knowledge variable, is developed; in order to explain the behavior of Ardakan pistachio farmers towards healthy pistachio production, was taken into consideration.

Methods

In terms of purpose, the present research is a part of applied research, in terms of its nature, it is in the category of quantitative research, in terms of importance and the degree of control of variables, it is of the type of field research. Also, in terms of the method of data analysis, it is a type of descriptive-causal research, and from the point of view of data collection, it is part of survey research. In this research, the statistical population was the pistachio growers of Ardakan county, Yazd province (N = 4831), and the number of sample members was determined to be 356 using Cochran's formula. stratified sampling method with proportional assignment was used to select pistachio growers. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was determined through face validity by a panel of experts and diagnostic validity, and Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability were used to calculate the reliability of the research tool. The reliability of the questionnaire was carried out with a guide study and the completion of 30 questionnaires from the pistachio farmers of Aghda Aflatak village, which was part of the villages of Ardakan county, but outside the study sample. diagnostic validity coefficient from 0.49 to 0.7; Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.649 to 0.914 and composite reliability ranged from 0.797 to 0.93, which indicated acceptable coefficients for using the research model. SPSS22 and SmartPLS2 software were used for data analysis.

Results

Descriptive findings showed that the average age of the respondents was 53 years old. They had an average of 15 years of experience in the field of pistachio farming, and 30% of household income was dependent on pistachio production. In terms of the amount of cultivated area, 59.9 percent of the respondents had one [1]gauge and less land. Also, the descriptive findings showed that the highest frequency of respondents in attitude variable (40.4 percent), perceived ease of use (38.2 percent), moral norm (49.4 percent), perceived usefulness (46.3 percent), subjective norm (37.4 percent) and perceived behavior control (41.3 percent) was medium level, and in the organic production knowledge variable, the highest frequency (45.5 percent) is high level. The majority of the respondents (83.7%) considered the variable level of behavioral intention to produce organic pistachios to be low level. The inferential findings showed that the only influential component in the behavioral intention of Ardakani pistachio growers is subjective norm. The findings of this study were in line with the results of Yadavar et al (2018); Motalebani et al (2019) and Aazami et al (2018) because they also emphasized the significant, direct and positive impact of this factor on behavioral intention. The findings of the present study point to the absence of a significant relationship between attitude and behavioral intention, which was not in line with the results of studies Yadavar et al (2018); Aazami et al (2018); Safi Sis et al., (2020); Sandoghi & Raheli (2016) and Fatemi et al (2018), because both the level of attitude towards healthy production of most of the respondents is medium and low, and by examining the components Affecting the attitude, it can be said that the pistachio growers have pointed out the lack of ease of applying healthy production methods in the pistachio orchards, that this variable has not been able to create a meaningful and positive effect on the attitude. In the present study, the relationship between knowledge and behavioral intention was not significant; the findings of the research were not in line with the results of Ataei-Asad & Movahedi) 2021); Safi sis et al )2020) and Ghasemi et al )2013). Examining the variable of knowledge of healthy production in this study indicates that the level of knowledge of healthy production of most of the respondents is medium to high; which indicates the level of optimal knowledge of organic farming. Therefore, the main challenge is the lack of implementation of knowledge at the level of pistachio orchards, which is due to the understanding of pistachio farmers in the field of it comes from the ease of using healthy production methods.

Discussion

The findings of the present research clearly showed the existence of challenges and problems for preparing pistachio farmers to carry out the practices and principles of organic production in pistachio orchards. Given that behavior change is necessary for the implementation of organic production measures and methods in gardens, and also, the subjective norm had a significant effect on behavioral intention; Therefore, it is suggested that the Agricultural Jihad Department of Ardakan county, in cooperation with the extension unit, should develop appropriate motivational, educational and promotional programs in the form of mass media such as radio and television and web-based networks such as the agricultural knowledge network and other social networks so that while improving pistachio growers’ attitude towards organic pistachio production, the implementation of these types of methods will also be noticed by pistachio growers. In addition to the mentioned cases, the purpose of designing and implementing these types of programs should be to create a favorable understanding of the ease of implementing healthy production methods in gardens. In this regard, it is necessary for the extension unit to provide the necessary preparations for the easy access of farmers to experts and specialists, as well as the convenient and easy access to non-chemical substances and natural pesticides.

[1]. 1 gauge= 0.1 hectare