The Analysis of Dryland Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture practices have tended to reduce the use of fertilizer, pesticides, and maximal tillage, but rely more on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manure, green manure, legumes, and appropriate mechanical cultivation or minimal tillage to optimize soil and natural pest control activity. Farmers all over the world are working as managers of their farm; the farmers manage the production system to get returns from it. Effective management agricultural extension has special relevance in the Iranian context where agriculture plays a key role in meeting food requirements and providing raw materials. Effective management is crucial for obtaining high returns from a production system on a sustained basis. Therefore, it is essential that farmers and extension personnel are made aware of local resources for developing the managerial ability of farmers to cope with new demands, new problems and new challenges. The purpose of this article is to present the results of a study done about the analysis of dryland sustainability of wheat farmers in the Khuzestan province of Iran. The research method employed was correlative-descriptive. Wheat farmers in Khuzestan province were the target population for this study. A random sample of wheat farmers were selected (N = 5529, n = 359). An Indicator for Analysis of Dryland Sustainability (IADS) has been developed to determine the level of dryland sustainability of wheat farmers in Khuzestan province of Iran. According to survey results, 70.5% of respondents reported their sustainability to be “unsustainable”, approximately 26.6% of respondents reported their sustainability to be “moderate,” and 2.9% were sustainable. According to survey results, the correlation between education levels, participation in an extension course, perception of farmers regarding dryland sustainability, income, social participation, crop yield and their use of communication channels with level of dryland sustainability was significant.