The role of agricultural extension in drought management operations: A case study in Tafresh County

The aim of current research was to investigate the role of agricultural extension in drought management operations of Tafresh County. This research was a non- experimental type in terms of goal and manipulating and controlling variables. From methodological point of view, it is a descriptive and correlational type research while from data processing point of view, it is a correlation type. The statistical population of the study consisted of all farmers, who were about 9061 people in Tafresh County. According to Cochran’s formula, totally 300 farmers were estimated to be appropriate sample size and the questionnaires were completed through the personal interviews. The Cronbach Alpha was used as the measure of reliability which was about 0.832 for the main scale of the study. The validity of the questionnaire was approved by expert judgement of professors and advisors of theIslamic Azad Universityof Garmsar Branch and University of Tehran. The result of regression analysis showed that the record of effectiveness of being in contact with experts in agriculture, the publications concerning drought management and the participation in the extension visits related to drought management and attending the educational and extension classes in relation to drought management were four major variables with the greatest impact on the rate of applying operation for drought control.