Effective Factors on Paddy Farmers’ Non-participation in Land Consolidation Project in Mazandaran Province of Iran

Implementation of Land Consolidation Project (LCP) in Mazandaran province has faced problems in respect to farmers’ participation. This study aimed at identifying effective factors on paddy farmers’ non-participation in LCP. The target group included the paddy farmers who had not participated in LCP in Mazandaran province; and among them, 259 farmers were selected using cluster sampling method. As shown by the study results, non-delivery of consolidated land timely, probability of decreasing farming land after consolidation, and access to water resources were the main reasons of farmers for non-participation in LCP. Factor analysis results showed that ten general factors were main barriers of participation among farmers, including heritage law, population increase, financial issues, land topography, education, governmental factors and finally, agricultural issues. These factors could explain 62 percent of the variance of resistance to participate in LCP in Mazandaran province.