Educational Needs Assessment of Potato Farmers Regarding Marketing in Ajabshir Township of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran

Potatoes are the third most important food crop in Iran. But fluctuations in the production of potato have made imbalances in supply and demand. Lack of appropriate planning for cultivation and marketing operation and farmers’ little knowledge of marketing provides a ground for uncertainty about marketing. To compete successfully in markets, knowledge on marketing is necessary. Succeeding in markets is possible by conducting the marketing educational programs. The broad objective of most marketing educational programs is to help producers modify production and marketing. The first stage in planning of marketing programs is to determine the educational needs. Therefore, needs assessment before planning and conducting to programs is necessary. In this study the educational needs of potato farmers regarding marketing have been considered. The descriptive- correlational research methodology was used in this study. The target population included potato farmers from Ajabshir Township, East Azerbaijan Province. A random sample of 110 potato farmers was selected by multistage cluster random sampling method for completing the questionnaires. Research results indicated that respondents’ technical knowledge in marketing is low especially in pricing and marketing. The most important educational needs of respondents were marketing and pre-harvest activities. The independent variables such as age, literacy rate, yield rate, experience of potato farming and size of potato farms did not have any significant relationship with educational needs. Based on respondents’ opinions, the best educational method was meeting agents on farm and conducting the educational courses.