an analysis of the factors affecting the use of information resources and communication channels by vegetable growers in the prevention of soil pollution (a case study in ray township)

the purpose of this research was to investigate the factors affecting the use of information resources and communication channels by the rey township vegetable growers as regards their prevention of soil pollution. the study consisted of all vegetable growers (n=700) in the ray county, located in tehran province, from among whom 70 vegetable growers were selected through random sampling technique. a questionnaire was designed and employed to gather the required data. a panel of selected experts verified the questionnaire's content validity. the scale of use of information resources and communication channels was proved to be reliable as cronbach alpha coefficient was estimated as equal to 0.92. the results of descriptive statistics revealed that all of the vegetable growers have been involved in the use of polluted water for irrigation. also, it was revealed that a majority of the vegetable growers have utilized information resources and communication channels at a low level. the results of regression analysis finally revealed that the three variables of: education level, farm size, and the level of knowledge concerning the prevention of soil pollution, explained about 52% variances of the dependent variable.