Knowledge sources of farmers in Egypt

This study was conducted to: (i) determine the relative importance of farmer opinion leaders' sources of knowledge in cotton, wheat and maize production; (ii) identify the agricultural issues that were recognized by the leaders; (iii) examine the effect of these variables on the leaders' level of exposure to agricultural knowledge sources; and (iv) to enumerate the hindrances that the leaders encounter in obtaining agricultural knowledge.

Results showed that agricultural extension agents, agricultural television programmes, farmers' relatives, and agricultural cooperative directors were the farmers' important sources of agricultural information. The important agricultural knowledge obtained by the leaders were: (1) in cotton crop: improved harvests, control of the greasy (black) cut worm, aphis, thrips, cotton leaf worm, american, pink and sping boll-worm, and fertilizer application at the right time; (2) in wheat crop: high-yielding varieties, appropriate planting methods, planting by grain drills, controlling weed and wild oats; and (3) in maize crop: maize varieties, correct amounts of seeds for planting, irrigation at the right time, and controlling plant diseases. A positive significant relation was recorded between the degree of simplifying agricultural ideas for farmers and degree of maize farmer opinion leaders' exposure to knowledge sources.

The three important barriers encountered by farmer opinion leaders in obtaining agricultural knowledge through different sources were: less number of agricultural magazines; lack of training for farmer opinion leaders on technical practices on the mentioned crops; and lack of audio visual aids, posters, and samples, which help leaders to understand the practices.

Source: The knowledge sources of farmer opinion leaders in cotton, wheat and maize crops in Egypt. / El-Feshawy, T. M. A. [Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Research Institute (AERDRI), A.R.C, Giza, Egypt.] / Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 2005, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 957-981.

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Tags: agricultural information egypt cabi extension