Azarian Journal of Agriculture
Volume:4 Issue: 4, Aug 2017

The literature is full of the inquiries that have established the association of ecological awareness with conservation behavior, but witness on the layers of awareness of the environmental institutions in agriculture, i.e., environmental NGOs is lacking. Therefore, this contribution quantitatively examines the association of farmers’ awareness of environmental NGOs with water conservation behavior (WCB) using the non-experimental data. The research population includes all farmers of Mianduab city in the South Basin of Lake Urmia (N ≈ 23750), of which a sample composed of 368 farmers responded the survey. Miandoab city includes three districts (Baroogh, Marhamatabad and Central Miandoab), 11 villages (Zarrinehrud, Southern Zarrinehrud, Northern Zarrinehrud, Marhamatabad, North Mokrian, Southern Marhamatabad, Eastern Ajorloo, Western Ajorloo, Baroogh, Northern Marhamatabad, and Middle Marhamatabad) and 120 rural areas. The questionnaire was approved by a group of specialists in the field of agricultural extension and education. After conducting a pilot study, the reliability of the index of WCB was assessed using the Cronbach’ alpha. To determine whether the awareness of environmental NGOs is coupled with the WCB, we conducted chi-square (χ2) with the metrics, e.g., Ф and Cramers’ V. The resulting from Contingency Table Analysis (CTA) indicates that farmers’ awareness of the ontology, task scope, roles, and officials of the environmental NGOs are correlated to WCB. In conclusion, it is recommended that the NGOs’ officials need to regard farmers’ awareness of such institutions, which possibly creates the opportunities by which farmers can voluntarily participate in solving the water crisis and revivification of Lake Urmia.

Lake Urmia is one of the endangered ecosystems in Iran that needs to revivification as soon as possible. The assumption of the research is if farming systems, which interact with such ecosystem, save water; it will be possible to revitalize a part of the lake. To address this issue, this contribution hypothesizes whether the determining factors, which include the environmental NGOs’ effectiveness, the requirement to NGOs’ water interventions, responsibility, indulgence, and perceived behavior control, explain the water conservation behavior (WCB). We selected a representative sample of 368 farmers (N ≈ 23750) using the stratified random sampling method. They were surveyed via the questionnaire. A group of faculty members in the field of agricultural extension and education delivered their recommendations to approve of the face validity of the questionnaire. After performing a pilot study, we used the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Cronbach’s Alpha to assess the reliability of indices in the questionnaire. Using the multiple regression analysis, results indicated that factors, i.e., the perceived behavioral control (the strongest predictor), environmental NGOs’ effectiveness, and the requirement to NGOs’ water interventions could entirely contribute to explain 0.53% of the variance in WCB. Those farmers with the greater behavioral control were more likely to declare less perception toward the environmental NGOs’ effectiveness, and the less perceived need for environmental NGOs’ water interventions. In conclusion, the contribution delivers implications based on the research findings.

The acid sulphate soils in tropics are characterized with low pH (<4), high Al3+ and Fe2+ content, low basic cations and low phyto-available Zn concentration that can adversely affect the rice growth. A two year field experiment was conducted to explore the Zn and lime application and their interaction effects on soil and rice tissues Zn status in Zn deficit tropical acid sulphate paddy soils. The maximum increase in available Zn at no limed plots was obtained at 10 kg ha-1 Zn level about an average of 12 folds and lime application decreased it about 20% compared to control. The average increase in leaves, stems and grains Zn concentration due to Zn application at maximum tillering was 60%, 35.5% and 200% respectively at 10 kg ha-1 Zn level. The highest correlation coefficient between grain Zn concentration and available Zn, root Zn, panicle Zn and stem Zn was 0.96**, 0.92**, 0.92**, and 0.97**, respectively. The Zn concentration of grain had positive significant correlation with bran Zn (0.93**) and white rice Zn (0.91**). The highest increased percentage of Zn uptake in limed plots was 2.11% and 1.59%, 1.465 and 1.23% with 10 and 5 kg ha-1 Zn application, respectively. The highest Zn concentration in rice tissues at maximum tillering was recorded in roots; followed by stems, and leaves. Whereas, the order at flowering stage was as follows: root> stem> panicle>leave. Finally, at harvesting stage this order of Zn concentration in roots, stems, grains, panicles and leaves was observed.

During Kharif (July –October) 2015 a field survey study was conducted to identify the problems in adaptability of direct seeded rice (DSR) from three districts falling in Adaptive Research zone Gujranwala, Pakistan. Sixty farmers who had cultivated both transplanted rice and DSR were selected by convenience sampling method due to time and cost constraint and interviewed for primary data collection. The results revealed that DSR practice was adopted on 21.1% of the rice area on surveyed farms. Additional grain yield (11%) was estimated for traditional transplanted crop than DSR. Major problems raised by the farmers regarding DSR practice were more weed infestation, more disease/pest attack, less yield, more fertilizer requirement and more lodging factor. Total economic cost of production and net income for transplanted rice were respectively 11.3% and 9% higher than DSR. However Benefit cost ratio difference was found non-significant between both sowing methods. Expense on land preparation, labor charges for nursery management and transplanting, and irrigation expense for continuous flooding were the factors for higher cost of transplanted rice production. Therefore it was concluded that both sowing methods might be alternative to each other keeping in view the availability of labor, water and soil type.