Economic Constraints, Extension Deficits, and Farmers’ Perceptions of Traditional Farming Methods: Evidence from Citrus Farmers in Saudi Arabia

This study examined the associations between economic constraints, agricultural extension deficiencies, knowledge-related factors, perceived agricultural innovation, and drip irrigation use, and farmers’ perceptions of the difficulty and time requirements associated with traditional farming methods in Al-Hariq Governorate, Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected through structured face-to-face interviews with 185 citrus farmers using an event-based convenience sampling approach at the Al-Hariq Citrus Festival. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data. Model diagnostics included multicollinearity assessment, heteroskedasticity tests, HC3 robust standard errors, influential-case diagnostics, and bootstrap sensitivity analysis. The measured outcome reflected farmers’ perceptions that traditional farming methods are difficult and time-consuming. The regression model explained 35.8% of the observed variation in this outcome (R2 = 0.358; adjusted R2 = 0.340), and the overall model was statistically significant (F(5, 179) = 19.940, p < 0.001). In the HC3-adjusted model, economic constraints were positively associated with the outcome (B = 0.8672, HC3 SE = 0.1431, p < 0.001), as was the perceived importance of agricultural innovation (B = 0.0960, HC3 SE = 0.0463, p = 0.040). The adjusted associations for extension deficiencies, limited knowledge, and reported drip-irrigation use were not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. These findings concern farmers’ perceptions of traditional farming methods and should not be interpreted as evidence of operational or maintenance barriers to drip irrigation. The cross-sectional design and convenience sampling approach limit causal interpretation and generalizability. Future research should use validated measures of perceptions of traditional farming and separate, direct measures of irrigation-system operation and maintenance if those outcomes are of interest.