Factors Affecting Attitude of Agricultural Extension Experts towards Organic Farming

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the attitude of agricultural extension experts towards organic farming in the Kermanshah Township. Statistical population in this study consisted of all agriculture extension experts of the Jihade- Keshavarzi management and centres of agricultural services in the Kermanshah Township (N=148), 123 of whom were selected as research samples using random simple sampling method. The main instrument in this study was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was established by Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. The data was analyzed by using the SPSSWin20 software. The results showed that the attitude of the majority (57 percent) of agricultural extension experts towards organic farming in the Kermanshah Township was at the neutral level. The findings of mean comparison showed that there were significant differences between the attitudes of agricultural extension experts towards organic farming in the Kermanshah Township based on their field of study. In addition, the results of multiple regression analysis indicated that about 35 percent of the attitudes of agricultural extension experts towards organic farming is explained by the study of scientific research journal and using internet. The results of this study have applications for managers of the Jihad-e-Keshavarzi and centers of agricultural services in order to improve the attitudes of agricultural extension experts towards organic farming.