PERCEIVED PROFITABILITY AND FARMERS CONSERVATION BEHAVIOR

Attempts to reduce land degradation by influencing the management beha viour of farmers will be better informed when the relative importance of factors influencing the use of 'conservation' practices aimed at en hancing longer-term land productivity can be quantified Land managers' perceptions of the technical feasibility and profitability of such pr actices will play an important role in the decisions about their use. Of particular interest is the relative importance of an individual's p erceptions of the profitability of conservation behaviours and the ind ividual's conservation orientation In a pretest-post test study the in fluence of prior perceptions about two 'conservation' practices, and o f environmental orientation on the subsequent behaviour of farmers is investigated A logistic regression model is developed to show the rela tive influence of perceptions of profitability and technical feasibili ty and of personal environmental concern on the choice of conservation practices. Perceived profitability was the most important factor infl uencing the use of conservation practices.