The Effect of Agricultural Extension and Education System on Farmers’ Environmental Behavior

At present, although the efficiency and sustainability of many environmental protection technologies have been widely proven in agricultural research centers, but many farmers still do not have enough information and knowledge about these technologies, and the reason for this is that such technologies require the replacement of local management skills, knowledge and manpower with foreign inputs. The purpose of this study was to analyzing of the effect of agricultural extension and education system in the form of educational-extension methods on farmers’ environmental behavior. The present study is a descriptive and causal-relational research that was conducted by survey method. The statistical population of this study was farmers in Sis area located in Shabestar district of East Azarbaijan province (N = 4487). The Morgan table was used to determine the sample size. The sample size was 350, which increased to 360 farmers to reduce the error and also to cover the unanswered questionnaires and were studied using random sampling method. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire which Its validity was confirmed using the opinion of professors of agricultural extension and education at the university of Tehran and the reliability of the variables was confirmed using a pretest and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The structural equation modeling technique was applyed to analyze the data. Based on the obtained information, there was sufficient evidence for the confirmation significant effect of "group methods" and "environmental attitude" on "environmental Behavior". The significant effect of "individual extension" and "environmental knowledge" on "environmental attitude" was also confirmed. Based on the results, the combination of individual, group and mass methods in extension programs can be done to increase the effectiveness of educational-extensional methods, to enable the synergy of educational resources and educational methods in one harmonious and cohesive platform.