Knowledge, attitude and behavior of farmers about conservation agriculture in Kermanshah province

Today, engaging in conservation agriculture is an undeniable necessity, and the knowledge, attitudes and skills of farmers in this field can help to develop conservation agriculture. The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude and skills of farmers in Kermanshah Province in the field of conservation agriculture. Statistical population of this study was farmers in Kermanshah Province. The sample size was determined by Bartlett et al. (2001) (n= 370) and sampling was done in a multi-stage manner. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the panel of experts and the convergent validity was done through calculation (AVE), which was equal to 0.76. In order to measure the reliability of the questionnaire, the ordinal theta coefficient was used and an acceptable value was obtained. Findings showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between educational level, attending educational-extension courses, income, work experience, amount of owned lands, attitude towards conservation agriculture and knowledge of conservation agriculture with the use of conservation agricultural practices. The results also showed that the studied farmers have an appropriate and positive attitude towards conservation agriculture. Farmers' knowledge of conservation agriculture was also good, but their skills in conservation agriculture were assessed as low. Therefore, in order to develop conservation agriculture in Kermanshah province, it is suggested that agricultural extension planners make every effort to increase the skills of farmers in the field of conservation agriculture.