Factors Associated with and Determining the Digitization of Agricultural Extension Services in Itsa district in Fayoum Governorate

The study aims to identify the distinctive characteristics and attributes of the respondents, members of the study sample. It also aims to identify the respondents' attitudes toward digitizing agricultural extension services. It also aims to determine the extent of respondents' awareness of the importance of transitioning to digital extension services. It also aims to identify the level of respondents' awareness of the benefits of digitizing agricultural extension services. It also aims to determine the degree of expected benefit from digitizing agricultural extension services from the perspective of the study sample. It also aims to identify the obstacles to digitizing extension services, from the perspective of the respondents, and their suggestions for overcoming them. It also aims to reveal the relationship between the independent variables studied and each of the following: respondents' attitudes toward digitizing extension services, and the degree of expected benefit from digitizing extension services. Finally, it aims to determine the relative importance of the independent variables studied and their influence on each of the following: respondents' attitudes toward digitizing extension services, and the degree of expected benefit from digitizing extension services.
The current study was conducted in Fayoum Governorate. The villages of Menia El-Hait and Taton in Atsa District were selected, given that they are the largest centers in the governorate in terms of the number of holders. A systematic random sample of 360 respondents was selected, representing 15.9% of the total study population of 5763 holders. The most important results revealed that more than half of the respondents (51.9%) had neutral attitudes toward digitizing the extension service, compared to 30.6% who had positive attitudes toward digitizing the extension service. Only 32.8% of the respondents perceived the high importance expected from digitizing the agricultural extension service, while more than two-thirds of the respondents (67.2%) perceived the expected benefits as either low or medium, with 43.6% and 23.6% reporting this as the case. The results also showed a significant correlation between respondents' attitudes toward digitizing agricultural extension services and age, number of years of education, size of agricultural holdings, level of ambition, openness to the outside world, attitude toward change, exposure to agricultural information sources, use of information sources, use of technological means, awareness of the importance of digitizing extension services, and knowledge of the advantages of digitizing extension services. There was also a significant correlation between the degree of expected overall benefit and age, number of years of education, level of ambition, openness to the outside world, attitude toward change, exposure to information sources, availability of technological means, use of technological means, awareness of the importance of digitizing extension services, and knowledge of the advantages of digitizing extension services. The variables of degree of use of digital means, level of awareness of the importance of digitizing extension services, age, openness to the outside world, and number of years of education together contributed 72.3% to explaining the variance in respondents' attitudes toward digitizing extension services as a dependent variable. The variables of number of years of education, level of awareness of the importance of digitizing services, attitudes toward change, level of use of technological means, and exposure to information sources together contribute 68.5% to explaining the variance in the degree of expected benefit from digitizing guidance services.