Major Barriers to Application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Technologies in Sustainability of Livestock Units

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the major barriers to application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies in sustainability of livestock by ranchers of Meshkinshahr. A sample of 120 farmers was selected by using proportional random sampling method. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Validity of questionnaire was determined through Agricultural Jihad exports of Meshkinshahr County and some faculty members at University of Tehran, Department of Agricultural Management and Development. Cronbach’s alpha was used to estimate the reliability. The reliability was found to be acceptable. The results of Factor Analysis showed that infrastructure barriers, informational- educational barriers, institutional-support barriers, personal barriers, economical barriers were the five barriers to application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies in livestock unites. These factors explained 67.23 percent of the total variance.