Abstract

Crop rotation as the oldest and the most influentioal strategy of crop production includes the cultivation operations of a set of different types of crops in a region and throughout the consecutive seasons to acquaire advantages such as discontinuance of the growth of pathogenic factors, pests, improvement of the soil texture and fertility. But evidences show that the crop rotation advantages as a necessary operation in sustainable agricultural systems have been neglected. The aim of this research is determining the influential factors on implementing crop rotation by the Gorgan township farmers. The research has been of descriptive and correlative type and the statistical population included all the Gorgan towonship farmers of the Gorgan province, whose population is estimated as being 4000 persons according to the available data. Some 351 individuals from this figure have been selected as the research sample using the simple random sampling method. The research tool has been quastionaire, the content validity of which has been estimated thorough intreviwes with agronomy and agricultural extension experts, followed by modification of the quastionaire according to the outcome of their views. The Cronbach alfa coefficient value of the research tool reliability was 0.88. The data analysis has been efected using the SPSS statistical software. The factor analysis results showed that the supportive and agro-ecological factors respectively are among the most important factors definitive of the changes in research variables. Supportive measures regarding cultivation of the recommended crops in the township crop rotation pattern such as guaranteed crop purchasing; supplying the inputs, loan endowment and implementing policies concerning the crop price stability are among the recommendations of the research.