Perceptions of Paddy Farmers towards Sustainable Agricultural Technologies: Case of Haraz Catchments Area in Mazandaran province of Iran

Sustainable agriculture has defined and described in many ways. Despite the diversity in conceptualizing sustainable agriculture, there is a consensus on three basic dimensions of the concept, namely, ecological soundness economically viable and socially acceptable. The dimensions of ecological soundness refers to the preservation and improvement of the natural environment. Environmental issues emerge from the human use of natural resources. Farmers' decisions to adopt a new agricultural technology depend on complex factors. One of the factors is farmers' perception. The objective of this study was to investigate perceptions of paddy farmers towards applying sustainable agricultural technologies and to identify factors influencing their perceptions. The results of the study show that farmers had good perception about sustainable technologies such as diversification and rotation, application of manure but in general, they preferred modern technologies to local ones. They perceived agrochemicals as the best means to combat against pests and to increase rice production. Their perception of intangible impacts of modern technologies was weak. It was found that there should be a relationship between a numbers of socio-economic factors, such as human capital factors, information sources use, extension participation and landholding size and the perception towards selected sustainable agricultural technologies. Also, educational level, contact with agricultural experts and extension participation were best predictors of their perceptions.