Knowledge Level of Vegetable Farmers in the Field of Organic Agriculture in Menoufia Governorate and its relationship to some Demographic variables | ||
| The Egyptian Science Magazine | ||
| Article 21, Volume 11, Issue 1, December 2024, Pages 179-194 PDF (393.07 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/esm.2024.388813 | ||
| Authors | ||
| عماد محروس علي الشافعي* 1; سعيد عباس محمد رشاد* 2; هالة أحمد عبدالعال* 1 | ||
| 1معهد الدراسات والبحوث البيئية، جامعة السادات | ||
| 2قسم الاقتصاد الزراعي، كلية الزراعة، جامعة بنها | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This research aims to identify the knowledge level of vegetable farmers surveyed in the field of organic agriculture in Menoufia Governorate and some of their demographic characteristics, identify the most important obstacles that limit the spread of organic agriculture and the proposed solutions to overcome those obstacles from the point of view of the respondents, and study the relationship between the knowledge level of vegetable farmers in the field of organic agriculture and some of their personal variables. The research was conducted on a random sample of vegetable farmers in Menoufia Governorate, amounting to 349 respondents, representing 10% of the total holders in the selected villages. They were selected in a systematic random manner from the available holding records in the agricultural associations affiliated with those villages. The data were collected during the months of July and August 2022 using the questionnaire form prepared for this purpose. The tabular display, frequencies and percentages, and the simple correlation coefficient test were used to display and analyze the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The most important results of the research were as follows: 9 % of the vegetable farmers surveyed have an average level of knowledge of organic farming practices. The most important obstacles that limit the spread of organic agriculture in Menoufia Governorate from the point of view of the respondents are: the lack of training courses for farmers in the field of organic agriculture, the weak financial capabilities of farmers, the high costs of organic agriculture production requirements, the lack of extension fields on which organic agriculture techniques are applied, the lack of extension seminars to educate farmers about organic agriculture practices, the low production quantity of organically grown crops, the lack of support for farmers with the equipment, machines and raw materials necessary to implement organic agriculture, and the lack of incentives for farmers who adopt the organic agriculture method. The most important suggestions of the respondents to solve the problems that limit the spread of organic agriculture in Menoufia Governorate from their point of view are: conducting training courses for vegetable farmers in the field of organic agriculture, establishing extension fields that are cultivated organically to educate farmers about organic agriculture techniques, motivating farmers by providing organic compounds for free, establishing outlets affiliated with agricultural extension to sell organic products, expanding the production of organic fertilizer and providing it to farmers, providing the necessary equipment to recycle agricultural waste, conducting television and radio programs to educate farmers about the benefits of organic agriculture and ways to overcome its obstacles, in addition to conducting television and radio programs to educate consumers about the advantages of organic products. There is a positive correlation between the knowledge level of farmers in the field of organic agriculture and each of the following: age, education level, practice of agricultural activity, experience in vegetable cultivation, experience in organic agriculture, participation in extension activities, and the trend towards agricultural innovations. There are three independent variables studied that have a significant relationship with the level of knowledge of the farmers surveyed regarding the technical recommendations related to organic vegetable farming, which together contribute 34.3% to explaining the total variance explained by them. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Knowledge; level; vegetable; farmers; organic; agriculture; Menoufia | ||
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