Role of the educational extension program in promoting sustainable farming practices for wheat farmers of Hammam Al-Alil district, Nineveh Governorate

• 1*Anhar M.A. Hasan 2Adnan I. Khamis

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The final purpose of this study is to use of educational extension for wheat cultivation by farmers in Hammam Al-Alil district in general and to determine relationship between the amount of wheat farmers' use of suggested agricultural methods and the succeeding independent factors (age, educational attainment, holding size,information sources). The items were presented  the of scientific suggestions which arranged for wheat farmers  according to their importance. The descriptive  method was using in this study and it was includes all wheat farmers with a total of 412 farmers in the villages of (Menira, Qabr Al-Abd and Kenitra) belonged to Hammam Al-Alil district, Nineveh Governorate. A simple random sample consisting of (103) farmers was selected representing (25%) of total number of respondents distributed across into three targeted villages.The data collected by a special questionnaire consisting of three parts after verifying with its validity and reliability.The data were collected from 103 respondents (after excluding initial sample of 20 respondents).The data were statistically analyzed  by using the SPSS program.The results showed that wheat farmers' attitudes towards educational extension program were moderate and tended to be declining, indicating that farmers have a critical need for educational extension in order to improve their knowledge of wheat production. The items on conducting of mechanical harvesting process at the appropriate time came in first place while the paragraph on marketing the produce in bags after purification came in last place.Also,this results showed that educational extension played a vital role in  an increasing  area planted with wheat among farmers in Hammam Al-Alil.The more information sources available to wheat farmers.The more they apply scientific suggestions which was the better.Therefore, the results showed that adherence to educational extension programs had a significant impact on the variables of farm size and information sources. The findings of this study recommend opening educational training courses for farmers in wheat cultivation in the Hamam al-Alil district. It also recommends that the local administration provide facilities for farmers to lease agricultural land in order to increase wheat productivity.Also,the recommendations were made to the Agricultural Extension Center in Nineveh Governorate to activate its role by working on distributing extension bulletins and agricultural magazines to educate and develop the knowledge of wheat farmers in order to increase crop incomes in terms of both quantity and quality.    

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