Showing 3 results for Agricultural Extension
H. Sedighi, M. Beglarian,
Volume 8, Issue 4 (1-2005)
Abstract
Today, privatization of agricultural extension services is recognized as an appropriate approach to compensate for any weakness that the traditional extension system might have. The primary objective of this research was to study the attitude of the national top managers (including general managers, their deputies, and extension managers) of Jihad-e Keshavarzi Organizations (JKO), toward privatization of agricultural extension. Twenty JKOs from 20 provinces were randomly selected for study. A questionnaire was developed to the gather information needed and 107 general managers, deputies, and extension managers were randomly selected for this purpose. A pilot test was conducted on a similar population and reliability coefficients of (A Cronbach Alpha) 81%, and 89% were obtained for the attitude and managerial characteristics of the questionnaire respectively. The results showed that 93.83% of the subjects had either “positive” or “relatively positive” attitude toward privatization of agricultural extension. The majority of the subjects indicated that privatization of extension could provide a “supplementary means to complement the existing public extension services”. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that the independent variables collectively are responsible for 17.4% (R2 =0.174) of the variation in dependent variables. This indicates that a considerable amount of variances in dependent variables are yet unaccounted for that could be explained by variables that were not investigated in this study (requiring further study).
A.a. Shahroudi , M. Chizari,
Volume 11, Issue 42 (1-2008)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze the factors affecting farmers’ attitudinal dimensions toward participation in Water Users’ Association (WUA) by comparing two groups of farmers in irrigation networks with WUA and without it. The methodological approach was a descriptive-correlational and causal-comparative study of the survey type. The target population in the study consisted of 2551 farmers of irrigation networks in Khorasan-e-Razavi Province, Iran. Using stratified random sampling technique, 335 participants were chosen. Data were collected through a questionnaire, and analyzed using SPSS, V.13. Content and face validity of the instrument were obtained by the faculty members of Agricultural Extension and Education, Agronomy and Irrigation Departments at Tarbiat Modarres University and also specialists board of Agricultural Jihad Organization and Regional Water Joint-stock Company in Khorasan-e-Razavi Province. The reliability analysis was conducted and cronbach’s alpha values for the various sections of instrument were estimated between 0.73 and 0.86. The descriptive findings of the study showed that the majority of farmers’ overall attitude with respect to participation in WUA was at a good level. The results obtained from Pearson correlation analysis indicated that there are significant and positive relationships between such variables as education level, size of irrigated cultivated landholding, annual income, extension contacts, social capital components, water users’ perceptions regarding irrigation networks status and farmers’ participation status concerning irrigation networks management with the farmers’ overall attitude toward participation in WUA. The result of stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that 61.1% (R2 = 0.611) of the variance in farmers’ attitudes with respect to participation in WUA could be explained by farmers’ behaviour regarding optimum farm water management, social participation, social confidence, water users’ perceptions regarding irrigation networks status, farmers’ participation status concerning irrigation networks management. Also, significant differences were found between the two respondent groups in irrigation networks with WUA and without it in relation to farmers’ attitudinal dimensions.
M. Falaki, H. Shabanali Fami, H. Iravani , H. Movahed Mohammadi,
Volume 12, Issue 43 (4-2008)
Abstract
The continuous rapid development of telecommunications and computer-based information technology (IT) is probably one of the biggest factors of change in agricultural extension, which will facilitate and reinforce other changes. There are many possibilities for the potential applications of the technology in agricultural extension, about which attitudes of extension professionals is highly important. The present study was conducted to assess the attitude of extension professionals which can affect the adoption of IT by extension system. The population of the study consisted of 1145 extension professionals working throughout the country in different provinces. Using a stratified random sampling technique, 241 extension experts were selected as the sample for the study. The reliability and validity of the tools of study were confirmed by a pilot study and expert judgment. The results of the study indicated that the respondents had higher knowledge on word processing softwares, windows and file management in the area of computer application. In contrast, in the area of internet application they were mainly interested in getting information from specialized sites, searching by search engines of Yahoo and Google and exchanging e-mails. Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between the attitude of extension professionals and their age, educational attainments, knowledge of IT, its application and English language proficiency. Meanwhile, there was a significant difference between attitudes of male and female extension experts towards IT.
