Barriers to Production of Organic Crops from Viewpoint of Agricultural Jihad Experts

Organic farming is one of strategies for sustainable agriculture. It is based on natural methods of the control of agricultural pests and diseases and any application of chemical pesticides and herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics is prohibited, as it is possible. The purpose of this study was to assess the problems and obstacles to production of organic crops and the factors influencing it.The population consisted of the experts of Jihad Agriculture Organization and agricultural development services companies in Zanjan province. The questionnaire was used for data collection in this study. Sample size was estimated using Cochrane formula was selected with random sampling method (n=118). Reliability and content validity has been confirmed using Cronbach's coefficient alpha (0.81 to 0.90), and surveys of specialists and professors associated with the issue. Data analysis has been made by using SPSS software. Results showed that the main obstacles to the production of organic crops from the perspective of the respondents consisted of the high cost of organic crops production, lack of adequate knowledge among farmers in organic production, lack of specific markets for organic products, poor information and advertising of production and consumption of organic products. Using exploratory factor analysis, barriers to organic production was classified into the five categories including of extension barriers, lack of adequate government support, barriers to knowledge and research in Agricultural Jihad, the complexity and encouragement barriers. These factors have explained 63.92 percent of total variance.