Factors affecting rice farmer’s knowledge about the principles of sustainable agriculture (case study: central part of noor township in the mazandaran province, Iran)

The purpose of this study was to assess factors affecting rice farmer’s knowledge about the principles of sustainable agriculture. The simple random sampling technique was used to select 130 rice farmers of central part of Noor township in the Mazandaran province. Data was gathered by using questionnaire. The findings of the study showed that the level of education, number of family labor, and social participation in rural activities had positive and significant correlations with knowledge about the principles of sustainable agriculture in the level of 0.05. Also agricultural income, agricultural experience, and total area of rice lands had positive and significant correlations in the level of 0.01 with knowledge about the principles of sustainable agriculture. The results of stepwise regression analysis also showed that the total area of rice lands, agricultural experience, and level of education explained approximately 29 percent of the variability in rice farmer’s knowledge about the principles of sustainable agriculture.