Analysis of Extension and Education Contents in Agricultural Cooperatives in the Lorestan Province of Iran

The purpose of this research was analysis of contents of extension and education in agricultural cooperatives in the Lorestan province, Iran. The population of study consisted of 832 members of agricultural cooperative in Lorestan province, Iran in which 260 people were selected as a sample size, using Krejcie and Morgan table. The results indicate that more than 66.92 percent of the agricultural cooperative members had Diploma and lower level education, while only 4.23 percent of them educated in MSc level. In order to assess the attitude of farmers regarding contents of cooperatives agricultural education, seven statements were designed and asked from members to show their opinions. In this study, for analyzing attitude of farmers, the Likert scale was used. The ratings on the Likert scale were from one to five ranks (1. Strongly Disagree, 2. Disagree, 3. No opinion, 4. Agree, 5. Strongly agree). Based on the results, 32.31 percent of farmers were strongly agreed to desirability contents of education in agricultural cooperatives. The results of research showed the correlation between level of education, idea of farmers about cooperative practices, social participation, income, crop yield and attitude of farmers regarding contents of education in agricultural cooperatives was significant. The result of regression analysis by stepwise method indicated level of education, idea of farmers about cooperative practices, social participation, income, crop yield may well explain for 62.8% changes (R2 = 0.628) in attitude of farmers regarding contents of education in agricultural cooperatives.