Identify the Degree of Farmer's Knowledge on Soil and Water Issues, Software and Hardware Equipment and Methods to Improve the Relationship between Farmers and Authorities (Case study in Golestan)

One of the major challenges in the agricultural sector is to increase awareness among the users (farmers) about the soil and water issues. Improving management in soil and water aspects should be based on a participatory approach, involving researchers, extensions, farmers and policy makers. Certainly, increasing awareness in the agricultural field will create optimal use of resources and more production. The present research aimed to identify farmers knowledge about soil and water issues in two years (2008-2009) in Golestan province. The study used field survey and data were collected by interviewing farmers with filling a questionnaire. Totally 123 farmers from five districts in Aliabad, Gonbad & Aghala townships were interviewed. The results were separately considered in the different aspects. Unreasonable values of water, small size of farm and private possessive of water resources were key factors for improving irrigation efficiency planning. Knowledge among farmers about irrigation scheduling was very limited. Nearly 95% of farmers do not know how much water to give the field. The most farmers (93%) produced in a traditional way, transferred water by earth canals and irrigated without land leveling. The results have shown that the main causes of waste water in the fields are related to non-linned channels (26%), topography (29%) and inadequate irrigation (20%). Farmers had an average knowledge about rotation, using nutrients and pesticides/herbicides mainly due to the fact that they pay money for those inputs and also they can observe soon the effects on their field. Traditional cultivate, slowly growth of production, disadvantage of agricultural production market and destroyed resources have shown that present education in agricultural sector does not have expected effect. Findings indicate that approximately 66% of audiences have low educational levels (less than middle school).