In-depth content analysis of conservation agriculture training programs in Iran based on sustainability dimensions
- PDF / 759,528 Bytes
- 23 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 99 Downloads / 188 Views
In‑depth content analysis of conservation agriculture training programs in Iran based on sustainability dimensions Pouria Ataei1 · Hassan Sadighi1 · Mohammad Chizari1 · Enayat Abbasi1 Received: 1 December 2018 / Accepted: 30 September 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract Conservation agriculture (CA) is a tool of sustainable agriculture utilized in many countries. Sustainable agriculture has different dimensions among which the most important ones are environmental, social, economic, and institutional. Educational and extension programs of CA are in accordance with the principles of sustainable agriculture. Accordingly, educational and extension contents prepared for farmers should include the four dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, economic, and institutional). The main objective of the present study was to examine the sustainability dimensions in the contents of CA training programs using an in-depth content analysis technique. Educational contents considered here included brochures, extension publications, regulations, and training slides. Based on the literature, themes and sub-themes for each of the four sustainability dimensions were extracted. Then, the frequency of each sub-theme in the CA training contents was counted. The findings showed differing emphasis on the sub-themes of sustainability dimensions in the contents of CA training programs so that the environmental and social dimensions had the highest and lowest frequencies, respectively. As the main principles of CA, no tillage/low tillage, crop rotation, and maintenance of crop residues constituted the sub-themes of the environmental dimension, and the emphasis was placed on this dimension reasonably and expectedly. Keywords Sustainable agriculture · Sustainability dimensions · Conservation agriculture · Content analysis · Training programs
* Pouria Ataei [email protected] Hassan Sadighi [email protected] Mohammad Chizari [email protected] Enayat Abbasi [email protected] 1
Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran 1497713111, Iran
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
P. Ataei et al.
1 Introduction Modern agriculture has several advantages such as increased food production and improved quality of life for farmers. However, excessive reliance on chemical inputs, especially fertilizers and pesticides, heavy use of agricultural machinery, and over-cultivation of lands have had destructive impacts on the environment. In fact, conventional agricultural systems have been criticized for the recently emerged environmental problems. Conventional agriculture refers to farming systems that include the use of synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and other inputs, genetically modified organisms, concentrated animal feeding operations, heavy irrigation, intensive tillage, and/or concentrated monoculture production (Seufert 2019). Thus, conventional agriculture is typically resource intensive and energy intensive. Some conce
Data Loading...
