The extensional-epistemic needs of the agricultural staff in the agricultural extension units administration in the Agricultural Directorate of Salah Al-Din / Iraq

The research aimed to determine the extensional-epistemic needs of the agricultural staff in the management of the extension units of the agricultural department in the Agricultural Salah Al-Din directorate and identification of the extensional-epistemic needs in each of the areas of research (planning, organizing and decision-making, communication, coordination, observing and evaluation field). The research also aimed to identify the correlation between the extensional-epistemic needs and each of the following independent variables: (gender, academic degree, specialization, number of years of agricultural extension work, period of employment, sharing in training courses and administrative responsibility). A simple random sample (20%) was pell of the total community, where the total of its members reached (89) respondents. The questionnaire was used as a mean to collect data and it consist of two parts, the first part included some independent variables while the second part included (25) items related to the process of managing the extension units distributed over five areas, in front of which was a five-step scale (very high need, high need, medium need, low need, very low need) The results showed that the level of extensional needs in all areas is high we conclude from this research that agricultural staff lack information and skills in all areas of extension unit management. The results also showed a negative correlation between the level of needs and the variables studied; therefore, we conclude the importance of these variables and that they inversely affect the level of needs. Researcher recommends that the Salah Al-Din Agriculture Directorate should prepare educational and training activities for agricultural employees to develop their administrative skills and provide them with the necessary expertise.