Effectiveness of agricultural extension in the area of tomatoes crop production in Fayoum and Qaliubia governorates

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of agricultural extension in the area of tomatoes production (EAEATCP), to determine the relationship between the degree of (EAEATCP) as a dependent variable and some independent variables, to detect the differences between the degrees of (EAEATCP) in each of the studied provinces, for identifying the problems facing tomato growers in the area of production, as well as to identify their suggestions to overcome these problems. The present study was conducted in Fayoum and Qaliubia Governorates as the largest governorates of the area cultivated with tomato. Three districts were selected from each governorate: Qalyoub, Khanka, and Tukh of Qaliubia Governorate. Tamiya, Etsa, and Abshwai of Fayoum Governorate, the largest village of each district was selected according to the same criteria, these villages were: Qalyoub, Sariaqos and Qaha from Qaliubia Governorate, and Mataty, El- Gharaq El-Bahary, and Abu Denqash from Fayoum Governorate. Data were collected through personal interview using a questionnaire from 358 respondents in the studied villages. Frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation, Pearson simple correlation coefficient , t test, were used in the presentation and data analysis. The most important findings could be summarized as follows -Obtained results showed that 8.4% of the respondents had a low level of knowledge of the studied recommendations, 65.5% were medium, while 26.1% were high. -The results revealed that 82.7% of the respondents had low sources of knowledge of the studied recommendations, 4.2% were medium, while 13.1% had good sources of knowledge. -The results showed that 8.4% of the respondents had a low level of implementation of the studied recommendations, 76.3% were medium, while 15.3% were high. Obtained results showed that 44.7% of the respondents had a low level of benefit from studied recommendations, 51.1% were medium, while 4.3% had high benefit from implementation of the studied recommendations. -The results revealed that 13.7% of respondents believed that the extension has low effectiveness in the production of tomato crop, 72.4% medium, while 13.9% high effectiveness.' -There was significant relationship at the level 0.01 between the degree of (EAEATCP) and each of the following: degree education, average tomatoe productivity, degree of communication with the change agents, degree of leadership, and degree of the attitude towards extension activities, and the relationship was significant at the level 0.05 with the area of agricultural holdings. -There was significant difference between the degrees of (EAEATCP) in both of Fayoum and Qaliubia Governorates. The calculated t value was 3.072 which is more than tabular t value at the level 0.01. -The results showed that the most important problems facing tomatoe farmer were: low productivity per feddan, spread of diseases and insects, high prices of seedlings, the difficulty to serve good seedlings, not to follow the agricultural cycle. -The main suggestions of the respondents to overcome these problems are: to provide the elements of agricultural production at inexpensive prices, follow the agricultural cycle, good service of the crop, spraying sulfur to reduce pesticide use, and limiting the use of fertilizers and pesticides