Comparison of maize growers' characteristics with different ecological behavior: The case of Iran

According to the huge growth of world population, the emergence of increasing food production is inarguably one of the most significant developments in our planet and it caused many use of resources and pollutions in nature. Nowadays, humans change their environment very fast and don‟t save natural resources for next generations. To addressing the problem, investigation to make appropriate change in human behavior, is a necessity. Comparing of maize growers' characteristics with different ecological behavior was the main objective of this study. Statistical population was all maize growers (491 farmers) in Shiraz County which is located in south-west of Iran. Through stratified random sampling method 220 maize growers were selected. Their ecological behavior was examined using an index which prepared for that purpose and the process of its preparation has explained in the article. The classification results revealed that 81.4 percent of maize growers were classified correctly into „maize growers with weak, moderate and appropriate ecological behavior‟ groups. Also, it showed that the main discrepancy between three groups of maize growers with different ecological behaviors was related to: Their demographic characteristics; their ecological attitude and awareness of behavior consequences. According to results some recommendations presented at the end of the article.

Ecological behavior, Farmers discriminating, Maize growers, Natural resources