Factors affecting the social capital of farmers in Khorasan Razavi and the role of extension education in it

Researchers consider social capital as an important component of economic development and a key factor in sustainable rural development, and consider education as a factor in creating and strengthening it too. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of extension education on farmers' social capital in Khorasan Razavi using seemingly unrelated regression equations. The research tool was a questionnaire that the calculated coefficients indicate its high reliability. The statistical population of this study includes all farmers in the province. Due to the size and dispersion of villages, we used two-stage cluster sampling and the required sample size estimated at 384 people. The results showed that the four components of social capital have different conditions and also the general variable of social capital with an average of 0.61 is slightly higher than the average and therefore does not have favorable conditions. Quchan has the first rank and Khoshab has the second rank. Statistical analysis of the data showed that among the 11 independent variables, education variables, cooperative member and ownership status did not have a significant effect on social capital, but other independent variables showed a significant positive or negative effect on social capital. The variable of participation in the training course (except for the component of social cohesion) had a positive and significant effect on other components and also on the variable of social capital, which indicates the importance and key role of extension training in improving the social capital of farmers.