Investigating the Attitudes and the Behaviors on Chemical Herbicides Use among Farmers in Markazi District of Karaj

Chemical herbicides, despite their known toxicity, are widely used in developing counties. Evaluating the patterns of farmers’ use of the herbicides would help highly in recognition and their change of behavior. In this study, the attitudes associated with chemical herbicides use and exposure was evaluated among farmers in Markazi district of Karaj. Out of 1598 farmers of Markazi district, 130 farmers completed Cochran questionnaire; they were studied through accidental sampling. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to identify the validity of the questionnaire that was higher than 0.7. It was favorable for this study. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts’ panel. The results indicated that the attitude and the education have positive, direct and significant effects among farmers in using chemical herbicides. Based on the results, variables such as age, education, land area, distance of land to habitats, and job experience through effects on herbicide use cause a change in behavior about chemical herbicides use among farmers.