Determinants of Farmers’ Participation in Horticulture-based Extension Programs in Iran: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Subject Areas : Environmental policy and management

Morteza Akbari ¹ , Farahnaz Rostami ² , Abdolmotaleb Rezaei ³

1 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, I.R.Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Faculty member of Agriculture, Razi University, I.R.Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agricultural Economic and Development, University of Tehran, I.R.Iran .

Received: 2015-08-12 Accepted : 2015-08-12 Published : 2015-06-01

Keywords: Theory of Planned Behav-ior, Behavioral Intention, Agricultural Education Programs, participation,

Abstract :

This paper aims to discover the determinants of farmers’ par-ticipation in horticulture-based Education programs in the Western Azerbaijan province, Iran. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study also tries to make a comparison between participants and non-participants, who have achieved in this program. A sample of 231 farmers (137 participants and 94 non-participants) was selected based on a stratified random sampling method. Data gathering instrument was a questionnaire that its validity was approved by a group of experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha (α=0.71). The results showed that, there were significant differences between participants and non-participants in agricultural education programs in terms of all the TPB contexts. Additionally, the results of the regression analysis showed that attitude to how thinking and decision and subjective norms were the best deter- minants of farmers’ participation.

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