Factors influencing the non-acceptance of olive fly integrated management among olive gardeners in Rudbar city

Academic Thesis for Master's Degree

Field: Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Management Orientation

Abstract

Based on the research, the amount of damage caused to agricultural production by weeds, diseases, Insects and other pests have been determined as 45, 30, 20, and 5 percent of the total damage to agricultural products, which is about 35 percent. Integrated pest management is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of conventional methods. Promoting the effectiveness of integrated pest management requires identifying the main axes and components of integrated pest management for the purpose of policy making and practical planning with the participation of farmers. The olive fly pest is one of the most important pests of olive plantations in the country, and due to its newness in Iran, it is one of the most limiting factors for the development of olive cultivation in the country, especially in Rudbar city. Therefore, considering the special importance of this pest in terms of economic losses on olive fruit, it is necessary to prepare a basic plan for its control management, and the purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the non-acceptance of integrated management of olive fly among olive growers in Rudbar city. In this research, descriptive correlation method is used. The statistical population of this research was made up of olive growers of Rudbar city, who have olive orchards, totaling 13,000 people. With the random sampling method, 171 people were randomly selected and the content validity of the questionnaire was obtained by the experts of Stangilan Agricultural Jihad Organization who were related to the topic. Also, the reliability test was conducted through a guide study to obtain the reliability coefficient of the questionnaire and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.868 was obtained for the questionnaire. The results of the research showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the variables of the number of family members, history of activity in agriculture, history of olive gardening, total area of ??agricultural land, area under olive cultivation, average yield, annual income from agricultural work, annual income from miscellaneous activities, cooperation with institutions, social participation, educational-promotional and scientific activities with olive fly control methods in the last two years by gardeners. While there was no significant relationship between the variables of age, number of olive orchard plots, annual income from olive growing and social permeability with olive fly control methods in the last two years by olive orchardists. Also, the findings of the research showed that by using the step-by-step diagnostic analysis test, the variables of the total level of agricultural land and the history of olive horticulture activities were effective variables in the diagnosis function. Based on this, the functions obtained from the diagnostic analysis with the ability of 64.3% can correctly group the groups of olive growers into three categories (low, medium and high) based on the level of acceptance of the integrated management of the olive fly. style="direction: rtl;">Introduction                                                       

The amount of damage caused to agricultural products by weeds, diseases, insects and other pests of the total damage caused to agricultural products which is around 35%, has been determined as 45, 30, 20 and 5%, respectively. Although chemical control is effective for many damaging factors and transformation has created a lot in increasing production, but their cost and adverse effect on the environment and the quality of agricultural products has led to more attention to the use of methods in which the need to consume chemicals is low or not (Ranjabr et al., 2016). In addition to climatic conditions and unforeseen risks, the production of agricultural products is primarily subject to certain management factors that have important effects on sustainable agricultural production. These factors generally include the management of soil, water, pests and marketing, each of these sectors has numerous issues and problems, but in the meantime, the integrated management of pests plays an important role in the production process of agricultural products (Nouri et al., 2019).Pest damage to agricultural products has a long history and every year, despite the use of chemical pesticides, not only the pest damage is not controlled, but the level of contamination of the fields also increases (Noori et al., 2015, quoted by Sharifi Moghadam, 2015).

In recent years and with the increased attention of humans to the environment, the sector agents have introduced integrated pest management in order to control pests and plant diseases, which is useful and at the same time It is closer to nature than other solutions.

Integrated pest management is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of conventional methods. Integrated pest management programs use comprehensive and current information about the life cycle of pests and their interactions with the environment (Ofuoku et al., 2009). Promoting the effectiveness of integrated pest management requires identifying the main axes and components of integrated pest management for the purpose of policy making and practical planning with the participation of farmers. This can be done through the implementation of integrated management programs through cooperative extension approaches such as the approach of farm schools, because it is considered the most important factor in the process of human capital development, and the use of cooperative approaches is considered the success of agricultural development programs, including integrated pest management (Sharifi et al., 2016). The knowledge and awareness of the villagers is still not enough for integrated pest management. This indicates that the methods used did not have the necessary efficiency. The success of integrated pest management programs depends on the motivations, skills, and knowledge of farmers as well as the participation of local groups and communities.

Olive, as one of the horticultural products, has a special place in the world in terms of its role in the production of edible oil. Olive production faces risks due to the influence of atmospheric and environmental factors along with the problem of pests and plant diseases. The olive fly pest (Bacterocera oleae) is one of the important pests of olive plantations in the country, and due to the novelty of the olive fly pest in Iran, and on the other hand, the high level of its damage, especially in the provinces of Gilan, Qazvin and Zanjan, this pest is one of the most limiting factors for the development of olive cultivation in the country, especially in Rudbar city. Therefore, this research tries to identify the factors influencing the non-acceptance of the integrated management of the olive fly pest by the gardeners of Rudbar city, and take an effective step to increase this acceptance by the olive growers of Rudbar city. The country's urgent need for oil and strong dependence on foreign countries for its supply caused the policy makers of the agricultural sector to develop the cultivated area of ??oil plants in order to achieve this goal. According to the plan of the Ministry of Jihad and Agriculture in the direction of self-sufficiency in edible oil, the position of olives in the production of oil needed by the country is of great importance. Rudbar city has 1.7804 hectares (until the end of 2019) under olive cultivation, of which 5625.9 hectares are fruitful orchards and 2178.2 hectares are non-fruitful orchards (Salehi, Jihad Agriculture Organization of Gilan Province), and thus it is one of the poles of olive and olive oil production in the country. Until recently, there was no major threat to this development program except for the weather conditions, but since August 2018, when the olive fly pest was reported for the first time in the country, the alarm was sounded and in less than three months, the spread of the pest covered 13 provinces. The olive fly is one of the most important pests of olives. By feeding on the flesh of the fruit, the larvae of this pest cause the fruits to drop before harvesting, reduce the quality of olive oil, and cause the entry of pathogenic fungi through the entrance hole of the larvae and increase the acidity inside the fruits by two to four times. If the fruits are canned varieties, the marketability of the product will be lost due to the direct damage of the larvae, and this insect is also able to transmit the bacterium that causes olive gall.