An Investigation into the Farmers Attitudes towards Organic Farming in Riyadh Region - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

E. A. Elhag, A. A. Alzaidi, M. B. Baig

Abstract: With the prime objective, the present research aimed at exploring the attitudes of farmers of the Riyadh region towards organic farming. The study also focused to identify the relationships of personal, social and economic characteristics of the farmers and their attitudes toward organic farming. Personal interviews were conducted against a pre-tested questionnaire for the collection of the data. Tests of validity and reliability of the questionnaire were conducted before launching the study. A simple random and well-represented sample, consisting of 300 farmers was drawn. The data were arranged and to make them more meaningful, by using the percentages, arithmetic means- +, standard deviation, correlation coefficient- Simple Spearman Test. For analyzing the data statistically, Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used. The study revealed that the majority of farmers (65.7%) were with positive attitudes; about 34.3% farmers were with neutral or negative attitudes. The average standard deviation for the attitudes of the farmers on Likert Scale was about 0.59 with an average mean of 3.92. The study illustrates a direct positive correlation for the factor like level of education with the attitudes of the farmers towards organic farming. However, an inverse relationship exists for the parameters like total area of the farm and area being utilized for the agricultural activities and for the attitudes of the farmers towards organic agriculture. The study suggests for the change of the attitudes of the farming community, farm workers and the extension professionals by launching the extension
education, training, and capacity building programs for promoting organic agriculture in the Kingdom.

Keywords: Capacity building; Extensions Education; Foreign laborers; IPM Concepts; Organic farming; Urban migration

Date published: 2019-02-27