FARMERS' ADOPTION OF INNOVATIONS IN NON-TRADITIONAL FODDER PRODUCTION IN ISMAILIA GOVERNORATE

Document Type : Research articles.

Authors

Agricultural Extension & Rural Development Research Institute (AERDRI) - Agricultural Research Center Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation - Arab Republic of Egypt

Abstract

The research aimed mainly to determine adoption level of respondents in
field of non-traditional fodder in Ismailia Governorate, also to identify the
sources of information from which the farmer respondents derive their
information of non-traditional fodder Production, as well as to identify the
problems facing farmer respondents' adoption in non-traditional fodder
Production, and also to identify the suggestions to get rid these problems from
their view points. The research was carried out in the Ismailia Governorate on
a sample of 338 farmer respondents represent 12% of the total population
(2800) of farms of fodder crops in the studied areas. Data were processed
statistically through numbers, frequencies and percentages.
The main results of the research were as following:
- The results indicated that 41.5% and 32.5% of farmer respondents'
adoption levels were low and moderate respectively it means that they together
represent about three quarters (74%) of all respondents, while about only a
quarter (26% of them) have high adoption level.
- The results showed that the most important sources of information
from which the farmer respondents derive their information about nontraditional fodder were descending ranked from respondents' view points as
follows: relatives, friends, and neighbors (87.3%), television (85.8%),
merchants of fodder and seeds (83.1%)), and radio (82.8%) respectively.
- according to the extension services in the field of non-traditional feed
production visits by the field change agent to provide advice to the farmer in
the field of non-traditional feed production, visit the farmer to the agricultural
advisor in the library to provide knowledge about non-traditional feed, visits
of the agricultural guide to the farm house to provide advice in the field of
non-traditional feed, In addition, there are specialized training courses for the
production of feedstuffs, and the development of non-traditional feed
production fields in percentages ranging from 22.5% to 42.9% of the
respondents.

The results revealed that the most important problems facing farmer
respondents in adoption of non-traditional fodder production innovations
were: lack of agricultural extension agents (87.3%), lack of specialists in feeds'
production (86.4%), shortage of training in applying new experiences on feeds'
production (83.1%), low knowledge about producing non-traditional fodder
(82.8%), shortage of skills concerning producing of non-traditional fodder
(71%)،lack of extension bulletins in non-traditional fodder producing
(59.5%), and weakness of the extension programs in field of producing nontraditional fodder (58.9%)



Main Subjects