Limiting factors of Effectiveness of atmospheric forecasts from farmers, point of view in Golestan province

In the developing countries, there are increasing demands for timely and effective meteorological information for many agricultural decisions and farm management but many farmers for applying these information constrained by limiting factors such as shortage of money or credit, unavailability of seeds, lack of education and advice, or shortage of farming equipment. These constraints reduce effectiveness of atmospheric forecasts. The purpose of this study was to appoint the limiting factors of effectiveness of atmospheric forecasts from farmer's point of view in Golestan province. The methodological approach was a descriptive and survey type. The target population in the study consisted total farmers in Golestan province, Iran (N=130000).Using multistage cluster and simple random sampling techniques 322 farmers were chosen. Data were collected through a questionnaire and were analyzed using SPSS, V.11. Content and face validity of the instrument were obtained by the faculty members of agricultural extension and meteorology specialist. The reliability analysis was conducted with completing 30 questionnaires and Cronbach's alpha value was 0/80. The results obtained from analytic statistics indicated that there are significant and positive relationships between independent variables namely lack of credits, lack of inputs, farmer inaccessibility to extension worker, lack of enough education to make use of meteorology information, illiteracy and non-acquaintance of meteorologist language (99%) and significant and negative relationships between independent variables namely farmers, point of view about inaccessibility to agricultural instruments (95%) and dependent variable namely farmers, point of view about limiting factors of effectiveness of atmospheric forecasts in Golestan province. This study has suggested providing inputs such as fertilizer, poison, credits, instruments and equipments by responsible organizations for effectiveness use of atmospheric forecasts by farmers.