Proceedings of the 10th International Academic Conference, Vienna

AN ANAATYICAL STUDY OF THE FARMERS TOWARDS ORGANIC FARMING IN QASSIM AREA KSAUDI ARABIA

ABDULLAH A. ALZAIDI

Abstract:

This study aimed to identify the degree of trends to organic farming in agriculture. The study explains the nature of the correlation between the independent variables and the degree of trends of respondents about organic farming as the dependent variable. This study was conducted on 149 farmers representing all farmers practicing organic farming in the Qassim region. The preliminary data were collected by using the questionnaire against personal interviews. The results and analysis of the data are presented in the form of: percentages, the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and the simple correlation coefficient of Pearson, and regression (stepwise). The most important findings of the study indicate that about three -quarters of the farmers of respondents (73.4%) had attitudes between negative and neutral towards organic farming. However, a positive correlation (at the level of 01) was observed between the degrees of respondents’ attitudes towards organic farming (dependent variable) for the variables like: the basic profession, satisfaction with agricultural work, the total annual income. Also, a negative relationship at the same level with probability for the factors like: land tenure. Similarly a positive correlation was observed (at the level of 5) with the factors like: agricultural sources of information, and training. However, a negative relationship (at the same alpha level) was observed for the number of family members working in agriculture. However no cooperation was found for the factors like: age, educational level, family members the as agricultural worker, work full time for income from organic farming, the number of family members, activities and extension services. While practicing organic farming, the main obstacles faced by the respondents include: lack of organic fertilizers and organic farming inputs (moderate response 2.56 degrees), followed by availability of fake organic products in the markets affect consumer confidence in organic products (moderately response 2.53 degrees), yield reduction due to the lack of organic practices (2.50 degrees). The farmers of area feel that the knowledge and skills of agricultural extension workers were inadequate and they lack experience moderately in organic agriculture (2.05 degrees).

Keywords: Attitudes Of farmer,Organic Farming

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