FARMER’S AWARENESS, ACCEPTANCE, AND CHALLENGES FOR ADOPTING SOILLESS CULTURE (HYDROPONICS TECHNOLOGY) FOR VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN JORDAN
Soilless cultivation and hydroponic technology in Jordan recently gained attention as future techniques for growing crops in greenhouses. Soils pose serious challenges to plant growth, for that soilless cultivation systems offer the opportunity to produce without soil and avoid unfavorable soil conditions. This study investigated Jordanian farmers’ awareness and attitudes regarding accepting the adoption of soilless cultivation technologies. An online or onsite survey was distributed to vegetables’ farmers in Jordan Valley. Data was collected via google forms and compiled manually. The results showed no differences in any of these domains with age, educational levels, and years of experience. Comparison of means of total scores of awareness and acceptance between farmers with previous knowledge or receiving any previous training on hydroponics technologies and farmers without prior knowledge was statistically significant with a p-value (<0.05). Results indicated that 69.4% of the farmers have prior knowledge about soilless culture – hydroponic technology, the results showed a good acceptance score, and lower challenges score. Areas of improvement in delivering the knowledge can help increasing the acceptance rate to adopt the new technologies and to overcome the current challenges.
Sustainable Agriculture; Hydroponics; Soil-Less Culture, Vegetable Production, Jordan.