Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor, Socio-Economic and Agricultural Extension Research Department, Fars Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Shiraz, I.R. Iran.
2
Assistant Professor, Socio-Economic and Agricultural Extension Research Department, Isfahan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Isfahan, I.R. Iran
3
Assistant Professor, Socio-Economic and Agricultural Extension Research Department, Booshehr Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Booshehr, I.R. Iran
4
Assistant Professor, Socio-Economic and Agricultural Extension Research Department, Sistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Zabol, I.R. Iran
5
Researcher, Khoozestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Ahwaz, I.R. Iran.
Abstract
Quinoa is a plant with desirable nutritional value and high potential for growth and production in stressful environmental conditions. It has been less than a decade since scattered efforts to cultivate this crop have begun in the country. Therefore, it is considered an innovation. The aim of this study is to examine the innovative characteristics of quinoa from the perspective of farmers. The present study is a survey study and its instrument is a questionnaire. The face validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts and by using Cronbach's alpha, the reliability of the variables was calculated in the range of 0.66 to 0.89. The study population includes farmers from six provinces and 187 farmers were studied. The analysis was performed using SPSS29 statistical software. The findings of the study showed that farmers familiar with quinoa were more educated, had greater access to knowledge resources, and were more economically well-off. According to the results, among the components of quinoa innovation, “triability” is the strongest characteristic of quinoa, and “simplicity” and “observability of results” are the weakest characteristics of quinoa. The characteristics of “compatibility” and “relative advantage” of quinoa are also in the moderate to high range. It is recommended that in extension planning, a major part of the content be devoted to explaining the three characteristics (triability, compatibility, and relative advantage of quinoa) for farmers. Given that quinoa has a very high relative advantage in terms of both "agronomic characteristics" and "nutritional value", the dimensions of these issues should be properly explained to farmers in accordance with the characteristics of each region (such as cold, heat, salinity, water shortage, etc.).