Modeling the factors affecting the use of organic fertilizers by paddy farmers in rice cultivation (A case study: Dezful county)

Introduction
Rice is one of the most important food sources for people in the world, so that more than 50% of the world’s population uses rice as a food source. The excessive use of energy, water, soil and chemical fertilizers by rice farmers has created many challenges for the environment. Most of the existing environmental challenges are rooted in the lack of necessary awareness and self-efficiency in the field of human-nature relationship. In recent years, much attention has been paid to environmental protection behaviors as one of the main factors affecting environmental protection. To change people's behavior, the prerequisites for changing behavior must be identified. Therefore, psychological theories can be widely used. The objective of this research was to model the socio-psychological factors affecting the use of organic fertilizers by paddy farmers.
Materials and methods
This study is a quantitative research in term of nature, applied and practical in purpose, and descriptive correlation in data collection. The statistical population of this research included 4700 paddy farmers in Dezful country, Khuzestan province, Iran, in 2021. Sampling was performed by cluster method and the sample size was estimated to be 360 samples based on the Karjesi and Morgan table. The studied population is divided into four sections, Shahiun, Sardasht, Markazi, and Chaghamish, which Sardasht and Shahyoun sections were excluded due to their mountainous nature and the absence of paddy farmers, and sampling with tha same proportion was done only from the two sections, Markazi and Chaghamish. The main research tool was a researcher-made and pre-tested questionnaire. The formal and content validity of the questionnaire was based on expert’s opinions and the reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability tests. The alpha value and the composite reliability for all sections was higher than 0.7 and 0.6, respectively. SPSS version 26 and Smart Pls software were used to analyze the data in two descriptive and inferential sections. For data analysis, frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for the descriptive statistics section, and structural equation modeling was used for the inferential statistics section.
Research findings
In this research, the theory of planned behavior was used as the theoretical framework of the research. The results are presented in two parts, measurement and structural model. The results from the measurement model showed that the measurement items were confirmed in terms of one-dimensionality of indicators, validity and reliability, and diagnostic validity. In the structural model section, after evaluating the fitted indices, the research hypotheses were tested. To evaluate the significance of the path coefficients (beta statistic), bootstrapping resumption method in two modes of 100 and 300 samples was used. The results showed that there was no change in the significance levels of the parameters in two cases. In the other words, the results were highly validity, because the significance of the relationships between the variables was not affected by the sample size, and only the value of the t-Student statistic changed. Therefore, it is possible to test the research hypotheses in the form of regression model. The results indicated that all research hypotheses are confirmed based on the predicted relationships. The results also showed that the research variables explained 60.5% of the application of organic fertilizers in rice cultivation among the studied paddy farmers.
Conclusion
The results of the current study showed that only economic factors should not be considered as variables predicting behavior, and social and psychological variables may also have a greater contribution. The results indicated that the theory used in this field was very efficient, and its variables including attitude, mental norms, perceived behavior control and willingness to use organic fertilizer in rice cultivation could explain more than 60% of the variance of paddy farmer’s behavior in this field. Explain the context. In total, since perceived behavior control was more important than other research variables, it is suggested to increase the self-efficiency level of paddy farmers in this field by holding workshops and training courses.