Farmer’s knowledge of special technical recommendations mango production in Sharkia Governorate

This research mainly aimed to identify the knowledge level of mango growers with regard to technical recommendations for producing the crop in the research area, to identify the sources of information from which farmers derive their agricultural information about mango crop production, and finally to identify the most important agricultural extension services provided to farmers by the extension agency. Agriculture in the field of mango crop production is in the research area. The research was conducted in three centers, and a village was chosen from each center according to the criteria of area and number of farmers. They were the old Salhiya village from the Faqous center, the village of Al-Khattara from the new Salhiya center, and the village of Al-Sowwa from the Abu Hammad center, where the cultivated area in the mentioned centers was as follows: Faqus Center 11825 feddans, the New Salhiya Center 12991 feddans, and the Abu Hammad Center 5016 feddans. The size of the research sample was 200 respondents according to the Krejcie and Morgan equation from the comprehensive research, who numbered 420 farmers in the selected villages. The research sample was selected in a systematic, random way from the lists of mango growers in the agricultural cooperative societies of the selected villages. Field data was collected through personal interviews with the respondents using a questionnaire form prepared for this purpose after ensuring its validity during the month of May 2024. The arithmetic mean, range, and tabular presentation of frequencies and percentages were used to statistically analyze the data in presenting the results.
            The results of the table indicated that 29.5% of the sample members are illiterate, that about 40% of the sample members have an education less than the primary and secondary school average, and that more than 60% of the sample members have possessions of less than 168 carats, which is equivalent to 7 feddans, and that more than half of the sample members own from 12 to less than 48 carats of mango crop, at a rate of 55.5%, and nearly half of the sample members, at a rate of 47.5%, have less than 13 years of experience, and 65% of the farmers frequent the Agricultural Bank. Egyptian. The results also indicated that 55% of the sample members had a high level of knowledge regarding technical recommendations for the mango crop, while 27.5% had an average level of knowledge. The results showed that the average degree of knowledge of the farmers surveyed regarding each of the recommendations for mango crop production is as follows: Recommendations for paste grafting: This is a total of 12 recommendations. The results show that the respondents’ knowledge of six recommendations is 75% or more, while there are six recommendations whose degree of knowledge ranges from between 60 and 70%, and this indicates a high indicator of the farmers’ knowledge of the recommendations for paste vaccination. The eye vaccination recommendations were six recommendations, including two recommendations with a degree of knowledge of 75 and 80%, while there were two recommendations at 70% and finally two recommendations at 60%. This is an indication of the high rate of farmers’ knowledge of the recommendations for grafting by eye, and there are 12 recommendations for grafting with a pen. The degree of knowledge of three recommendations is 80%; while there are two recommendations, the degree of knowledge of them is 75%, while there are seven recommendations, the degree of knowledge of them ranges between 50%. 70%, and the fertilization recommendations for mango trees are twenty-one recommendations, including eight recommendations related to municipal fertilization, three recommendations for phosphate fertilization, four recommendations for nitrogen fertilization, three recommendations for potassium fertilization, and three recommendations for foliar fertilization. It was found that there are four recommendations with a knowledge level of 80%. And more, While there are nine recommendations, the degree of knowledge of them is 70–75%, and finally there are eight recommendations, the degree of knowledge of which ranges between 50-65%. Pruning recommendations: These are 12 recommendations related to pruning mango trees, as the respondents’ knowledge of only one recommendation was shown to be 80%. While there are five recommendations, the degree of knowledge of the farmers surveyed about them ranges between 70-75%. The results showed that 73.5% of the sample obtained their information from experienced family and neighbors, followed by fertilizer and pesticide dealers with 47%, followed by the sources of the Agricultural Society director with 44%. Finally, the results indicated that there are nine services provided by the extension agency in Sharkia Governorate to mango growers. The service of providing homogeneous seedlings to farmers came at the top of these services with an overall average of 74%, while five recommendations came with rates ranging between 50% and 67%, and finally two recommendations came in the rank. The latter is the service of holding guidance seminars on the harms of excessive use of pesticides, with an average of 47% in the year and the service of providing spraying machines in a timely manner, with an average of 42% in the year. The results also showed that the services of holding extension seminars and training farmers were provided with an average of 56% in the year.