The factors affecting the acceptance of mechanical and non-mechanical methods of water and soil conservation by farmers of Hamedan-Bahar plain (application of the multinominal logit model)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mostafa Baniasadi ¹
• Nasrin Rezae ²

¹ Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

² Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran.

Abstract

Keywords

• Conservation agriculture
• Multinominal logit model
• Mechanical conservation methods
• Non-mechanical conservation methods

Main Subjects

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

Extended Abstract

Objectives

The trend of growing population and the consequent need for more food, and the limitation of water and soil resources, on the other hand, have made the optimal management of basic agricultural resources a necessary issue. Meanwhile, one of the duties of the policy maker in the field of agriculture, in addition to ensuring food security, is to protect basic resources for the sustainable production of agricultural and food products. It is for this reason that the issue of sustainable agriculture has attracted the attention of policymakers who, in addition to maintaining production in the long term, emphasize on preventing the destruction of natural resources and the environment. During the last decades, the continuous development of industrial activities and excessive consumption of chemical fertilizers and poisons in order to increase the production of agricultural products has led to the pollution of a large volume of surface and underground water sources. On the other hand, the decrease in rainfall caused by climate change has led to successive droughts. On the other hand, there are droughts, torrential rains, heavy damages and the impossibility of using water sources. Droughts and torrential rains are two aspects of the resource shortage crisis. Watershed measures and mechanical protection methods are among the measures that can prevent floods and preserve precious and scarce water resources and help feed underground aquifers. Various studies have been conducted regarding the factors influencing the acceptance of conservation cultivation measures. Reviewing the literature on the subject shows that individual characteristics influence the acceptance of water and soil conservation measures, but similar or sometimes different results have been obtained depending on the demographic, regional, and climatic characteristics of basic resources. Also, some conservation agriculture practices have been emphasized in various studies. In this study, it is tried to analyze all conservation measures, both mechanical and non-mechanical, and to identify the factors influencing the acceptance of conservation measures by separating mechanical and non-mechanical methods, so that the policy maker can promote the desired method according to the needs of each region.

Methods

According to the aim of the present study, the adoption of conservation methods from the basic water and soil resources is a dependent variable that the effect of the effective factors on it is investigated. Due to the two-dimensional nature of the dependent variable (acceptance and non-acceptance), a special type of statistical model is used to estimate the relevant regression, including logit and probit models. In models where the dependent variable and sometimes the independent variables are fictitious and ranked, normal distribution cannot be observed, and for this reason models such as logit and probit are used. Meanwhile, the logit model has been widely used in various studies due to its simplicity. After estimating the logit model of acceptance of conservation cultivation method by farmers, the Multinominal Logit Model (MNL) was used to investigate the factors influencing the acceptance of mechanical and non-mechanical methods of protecting water and soil resources at the farm level. This model, which is one of the econometric methods, is used to estimate multivariate regression functions. The advantage of using multinominal logit is that it allows the analysis of decisions in more than two groups and obtains the probability of accepting the desired event in different groups.

Results

The results of logit model estimation show that the “age” variable does not have a significant effect on the adoption of conservation cultivation. The virtual variable of “having a non-agricultural job” shows that the probability of accepting conservation methods is higher for people who have other jobs besides agriculture. The variables of the “value of each hectare of land”, “the distance from the farm to the residence”, “the amount of received credits”, “the amount of soil erosion”, "awareness of the long-term benefits of conservation cultivation" and "commitment to the preservation of basic resources for the future generation" are significant with a positive sign, as expected. Also, the attitudinal variable "lack of trust in agricultural experts regarding the long-term benefits of conservation cultivation" has become significant with a sign in accordance with the expectation and at the 1% level, which shows that distrust towards agricultural experts has a negative effect on the acceptance of conservation cultivation practices. The results of the multinominal logit model estimation show that the variables of “age”, “number of plots of land”, “the distance from the farm to the residence”, “the presence of sufficient labor for conservation measures”, none of them have an effect on increasing the probability of accepting mechanical and non-mechanical methods compared to the basic strategy. The variables of the “value of each hectare of land” and the “amount of the credits received” increase the probability of being in two groups of farmers who accepted mechanical and non-mechanical conservation methods, although the effect of these two variables on the acceptance of non-mechanical methods by the farmer is stronger. The variables of having a “non-agricultural job” and “intensifying soil erosion” increase the probability of accepting non-mechanical methods compared to accepting the basic strategy, and in contrast to the variable of “not trusting agricultural experts regarding the long-term benefits of conservation cultivation”, it decreases the probability of accepting non-mechanical conservation methods. Improvement in the variables of “knowledge of the long-term benefits of conservation agriculture” and “commitment to the preservation of basic resources for the future generation”, leads to an increase in the probability of adopting mechanical conservation methods compared to the basic strategy.

Discussion

The results of this study show that there is a difference between the factors affecting the acceptance of two groups of protective measures, i.e. non-mechanical measures and mechanical measures. Therefore, depending on the characteristics of each region, the condition of the basic sources and the characteristics of the farming community, different policies can be adopted based on the type of protective measures. Based on the results, in order to encourage farmers to use the methods of protecting water and soil resources, measures such as granting targeted long-term and low-interest credits for the use of protective measures, increasing educational-promotional activities by the Provincial Agricultural Organization, using public media and virtual networks to inform farmers and also create a sense of responsibility towards the future generation, create other job fields and diversify the economic sector in rural and agricultural areas, as well as train knowledgeable and experienced promotional experts for effective and based communication. Trusting with the farming community is one of the policies that are recommended based on the results of this study.