Canola Adoption Enhancement in Western Iran.

Canola production is an important alternative for agricultural policy-makers in Iran to reduce dependency on the imported vegetable oils. Nevertheless, the canola planted area is only increasing at a slow pace, indicating a low willingness-to-accept of farmers. The general aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing the canola adoption in the Kermanshah Province in Western Iran. Employing stratified random sampling method, 106 farmers from each adopter and non-adopter group were selected. Helping to reach a suitable extensional program, two main categories of variables were defined; i.e. "farmers' personal characteristics" and "extension parameters". The analysis of farmers' personal characteristics variables revealed that the adopters had larger farms and were younger. The results also show that 80% of the adopters were "highly" to "very highly" willing to cultivate canola. Furthermore, a logistic regression model estimated the influence of extensional parameters variables on the canola adoption. According to the regression model, the most effective factors are "contact with extension agents" and "participating in extension classes". As a conclusion, it is suggested that the focus of extension services should be to reduce the distance to agricultural service centers in combination with more contact with extension agents and classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]