Investigation of Agricultural Expert's Perspectives Towards the Existence of Bt Rice in the Food and Agricultural Chain of the Country

The purpose of present study was to the investigation of agricultural experts’ perspectives towards the existence of Bt rice in the food and agricultural chain of the country. The dominant approach in this study is the mixed method. In the qualitative sector at the first data gathered through in-depth interviews with elites from both the executive and educational-research’ centers. The content analysis was used to analysis the data. The sample chose through using purposive sampling method and after achieving the forty-third interview with theoretical saturation the sampling completed. In order to the analysis of the qualitative data, the NVIVO software used. Then in the quantitative sector, a researcher-made questionnaire which its validity and reliability confirmed by a panel of experts and the alpha coefficient more than 0.7 distributed among 108 experts. Data analyzed using SPSS software (V20). Results showed that there are three main perspectives about using of Iranian Bt rice between the respondents include the necessity of using, precautionary using and not using. Also, the results showed that most of the respondents are agree to the label of Bt rice. The most important risk of Bt rice was its exclusive production and the most important benefit of Bt rice was its resistance to the pests and more yield. The results also revealed that there is no significant mean difference between the perception of academicians and practitioners. The result present study can have achievements policy –makers and decision makers related to agriculture and food sector of the country.