IRANIAN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND EDUCATION JOURNAL
Year:2007 | Volume:3 | Issue:1|Papers Count:13

Youth employment and its relationship to sustainable agricultural and rural development have increasingly become matters of concern for developing countries and the international community. While there are many complex factors that influence sustainable development and youth employment, it is clear that agricultural education especially, secondary agricultural education plays an important role in improving food security, sustainable agricultural production, rural development and youth employment. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate the employment status and career success among graduates of agricultural education centers. The descriptive- correlation research methodology was used in this study. The target population was 401 graduates of agricultural education centers in East Azerbaijan Province, who were graduated during 1373 to 1379. A random sample of 150 graduates was selected to complete the questionnaires. The instrument in this study was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was examined by specialists and the face validity was confirmed. A pilot study was conducted with 30 graduates who were not included in the sample, to determine the reliability of the instrument. Research results indicated thirty percent of graduates were employed full time and approximately nineteen percent (19.2%) of graduates were employed part time. About thirty six percent (36%) of graduates were unemployed and limited number of graduates (12.3%) continued their education towards Post- secondary and Bachlors degree, and 3.8% spent their armed-services. Also, research results indicated there is significant and negative relationship between fathers’income and career success. There is a significant and positive relationship between satisfaction rate of speciallity courses and career success.

Analyzing of higher agricultural education and finding strategies for its improvement are of great interest because of importance of higher agricultural education and its impact on all dimensions of human resource, economical and agricultural developments. Therefore, this system must be continuously evaluated, reviewed and appropriate models and approaches should be provided.This research project used a Delphi technique to investigate and analyze the views of higher agricultural education specialists in order to provide an educational approach in form of a conceptual model for Bachelor of Science degree program in agriculture. The subjects of this research were Iranian higher agricultural education specialists that were selected by nominating method. Two questionnaires were used to collect data which a panel of experts confirmed their validity. The test-retest method was used to evaluate the second questionnaire reliability that was designed by using Likert type scale. An educational approach was designed for Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture on the basis of the findings of this research. This approach assumes that the current higher agricultural education system is not compatible with the changes that occur in agriculture, environment, socio-economic situation, science and technology, and is not able to train students who work in this dynamic world of agricultural development. In this approach planning is done with emphasis on national objectives, technical and practical skills. Due attention will be to make coordination between instructor, students and physical and human facilities. This education system works in such away that graduates can be employed in areas of agricultural production, services, education and research or continuing education. The ability to become self-employed is an important strategy in educational planning. Other necessary components of this educational approach are acquiring practical experience, enhancement of creative ability in the students and increasing practical and technical knowledge in students. According to this educational approach, to be dynamic higher agricultural education system must have continues and viable linkage with other organizations. In this system students will focus on real field problems and will try to propose solutions under the supervison of these instructors. In this program, higher agricultural education system will achieve the following goals: Training the experts who can recognize current situation and agricultural department problems, can use agricultural sciences in practice, and earn good income by their effective skills.

The aim of the present work is to study the effect of higher education on the general development of graduates in various fields of agriculture. A survey research method was used in this study. A simple random sample (n=170) was selected from the population (N=1474). Graduates (Members of the Organization of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Registered Engineers from Tehran province) who had received their bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering during the years 2002-2003 constituted the statistical population. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire, based upon Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was found out to be 0.71-0.93 for different sections of the questionnaire. The results indicated a significant relationship between access to information sources and the quality of college education, and the four factors of 1) personality traits, 2) specialty knowledge and skills, 3) communication and social traits, and 4) economical standings. College qualitative and quantitative facilities have a significant relationship with the graduates' personality traits as well as with their specialty knowledge and skills. A step by step regression analysis indicates that 25.6 percent of the variables in general development of the graduates is determined by access to information sources at the college, being a boarder student, university qualitative and quantitative provisions, membership in student extracurricular activities, and the quality of college education.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of extension programs in reducing Nitrogen fertilizer overuse in wheat dry farming in Kermanshah province. For this purpose, we used logit model. The data were collected from 262 wheat dry farmers in three different climates in Kermanshah province. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used for selecting farmers. The finding revealed that the extension programs have no significant impact on Nitrogen fertilizer overuse. Also, findings indicated a positive correlation between Potash fertilizer and pesticide use with Nitrogen fertilizer overuse. The results showed longer experience of the farmer with wheat dry farming in the province has significant negative relation with the overuse of Nitrogen fertilizer.

Higher education structure including higher education in agricultural is facing serious challenges such as increasing in number of applicants for higher education, increasing female/male ratio and the need of diversity in education programs offered by universities. A possible solution to overcome these challenges is to understand agricultural students' attitudes towards their majors and their future in order to guide them. For this purpose Ajzen's Attitude Theory, which helps the person in decision making process, was used. Therefore, a national wide research project, based on survey method, was carried out. The data were collected by questionnaire. The questionnaires were tested, which its face validity was approved by subject experts and the reliability was determined by a pilot study with Cronbach's Alpha value of 0.90. The results show that the relation between factors such as experience, observations, cognition and values towards agriculture and agricultural majors in one hand and priority of selecting agricultural major by university applicants in the other hand is negative and statistically significant. More results show that these factors are also significantly higher in male students and those students with experimental high school diploma (Tajrobi), with an average grade point of 10-14, and those students from geographical regions categorized as region 3 as well as from those universities categorized in term of higher education productivity as 2nd and 3rd groups. Based on results from this research project, applicable guidance’s are recommended for higher education applicants towards agricultural majors.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of advisory services given to wheat producer by wheat farms' advisors that whether or not their knowledge, skills and attitudes toward farms' advisors are enhanced. Descriptive-correlational method is the base of this research. The whole of wheat producers in Tehran province who monitored by wheat advisors in 1384-1385 farming year are selected as statistical population, which among that 135 farmers as a statistical sample by using Cochran' table under stratified randomization method were chosen. Finally 102 questionnaires were filled out and analyzed. Also 100 farmers were chosen as control group from the whole population of farmers who did not monitored by wheat advisors. The instrument validity was confirmed and corrected based on opinions of a panel of experts. A reliability analysis was conducted, cronbach's alpha coefficient value achieved about 0.87. The results shown that the mean of professional knowledge, attitude towards wheat farm's advisors and their skills have significant differences when the two groups of wheat farmers are compared together. The results of bivariate correlation test also show that the adoption of advisors through farmers had a positive relationship with their knowledge, attitude and skills. As a result, offering advisory services to wheat producer through advisors improved technical knowledge, professional skills and attitudes of farmers. Analysis of relationship between variables and effectiveness of advisory services were manifested that there was a meaningful relationship between factors such as education level, mechanization level, the amount of land under wheat cultivation, yield of farm per hectare and income with the effectiveness of advisory services.

Efficient agricultural information systems help decision makers in planning and optimum use of resources. The aim of this study was to appraise the effectiveness of AIS in Hamedan province, Iran, using the 14 internationally recognized criteria. Data were collected using a survey research method and stratified random sampling technique. The sample consisted of 62 extension workers and 31 agricultural researchers. The face validity of questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts, and a pilot study was conducted which indicated that the scales used in the study have acceptable level of reliability. The findings revealed that researchers and extension workers confirmed the importance of these criteria in appraisal of success of Hamedan’s AIS. While, Hamedan’s AIS has a high achievement score with regard to “agricultural system controls on environment” and “informal relationship between AIS subsystems” criteria, the achievement score for “farmers control on research process” and “relationship between agricultural knowledge and information system with others AISs” were the lowest among the 14 criteria investigated in the research.

Drought that is known as one of the natural disasters, has affected climate equilibrium of Sistan region during the years 1998 to 2001, and has made various economic and social impacts. The objectives of this study were to investigate the impacts of the drought on income, investment and employment in agricultural sector and also on migration and food security of the households in the region during that period. Data were collected through a survey using 332 questionnaires designed for households and corresponding experts. The data were analyzed by various descriptive and inferential statistics such as average, mode, mean, correlation coefficients, cross tables analysis. The results showed that there was low impact of drought on permanent exit of labour from agricultural sector. The income of most of the households and also volume of investments decreased over the period. The number of livestock decreased even after the drought. The results also showed that 95.5 percent of the households could only meet their basic food needs and they could not afford to take into account the quality of foods. In order to reduce the drought impacts in the region, it is recommended to make arrangements such as developing infrastructures and corresponding investments, extension of water reservations and improving structure of decision–making process and decentralism.

This study used a survey method to determine the non-economic factors contributing to satisfaction from participation in projects combating desertification in Khuzestan province. The target population for this study consisted of managers of the projects who had a contract with Natural Resources Office of Khuzestan province participating in desertification combat projects. Stratified random sampling method was used to select a sample of 149 managers. Stepwise regression analysis was used to determine the predicators of satisfaction. At the end, based on the findings recommendations for increasing satisfaction are provided.

Today, continues evaluation of research and education quality in higher education and specifically in agricultural education has a critical importance. The purpose of this study was to describe the application of quality assessment in Agricultural Extension and Education major at Tarbiat Modares University regarding job performance by the graduates of this school. Five dimensions of quality were examined: the extent of perceived competencies learned from their graduate program, relevancy of courses content to job responsibilities, graduates satisfaction from courses completed, relevance of courses' content to human resource development, and finally, perceived value of courses to the job market. The population for the study consisted of all students who graduated during 1995-2005 (N=65). Data were collected using a survey. The instrument was assessed for content and face validity by a panel of experts consisting of senior faculty members in agricultural extension and education. Cornbach’s alpha, an internal consistency measure, was used to estimate the reliability, and was found to be in acceptable range from 0.78 to 0.88. The findings revealed that job effectiveness of Agricultural Education and Extension Graduates was at "medium" to "high" level. Graduates rated dissertation, seminar and research methods courses as having very high value to the job market. Graduates identified that familiarity with information technology such as internet is critical to human resource development. Recommendations were presented for improvement of educational activities regarding the five dimensions.

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing the yield and quality of saffron production with an approach to compare members and non-members of rural production cooperatives (RPC). The research was a descriptive-analytical study of the survey type. The target population in the study consisted of 14880 saffron farmers (SFs) in Torbat-Heydarieh township of Khorasan-Razavi province. Using stratified random sampling technique, 375 SFs from seven regions having RPC were chosen as statistical sample. The research instrument was a structural questionnaire consisted of only close-ended questions that its validity and reliability were tested. The results of correlation analysis revealed that the variables of practical skill, education level and technical knowledge have the highest influence on saffron yield, respectively. The findings revealed significant relationship between the practical skill of SFs and the quality of saffron produced. The results of logistic regression indicated that the variables of social participation, agricultural extension activities, practical skills, access to agricultural inputs and marketing status were the most important factors which distinguished two groups of members and non-members of RPC and 78.7 percent of respondents were correctly classified through these factors.

The relationship between education and development is clear and their influence on each other is obvious. Education as a tool for training manpower has a great role in social and economical development. In fact, educated manpower is considered as an engine for overall development. When economic development occurred then, more attention would be paid to education. It is remarkable that the process of development should be begun from the side of education in third world countries and Iran is not an exception in this regard. Therefore, after the revolution of constitution in 1905, more attention was paid on expansion of education and many different schools and western type educational centers were established in Tehran and other cities. So, the process of development was begun from the side of education in Iran. These schools trained needed manpower for the industrial and service sectors and they have relatively been successful. At the same time, agricultural schools could not play their role in educating proper and suitable manpower needed in agricultural sector. The main reason was that when the first agricultural schools were established in Iran in 1279, the agricultural sector was relatively developed compared to the industrial and service sectors. Therefore, the process of development in agriculture should not begin from the side of education. So, the wrong beginning of agricultural education has brought about many problems and a vague situation. One of these problems is unemployment phenomenon. The agricultural graduate students have always faced this problem during the recent century. This problem has been generated by agricultural schools in Iran. The government of Iran has used the "A- Triangle" ways in order to solve the ominous unemployment phenomenon during the last century. Closing the schools, transferring them to the other institutes and finally employing their graduate students have been three ways of solving this problem by the government of Iran. Although the last way is so easy and suitable for employees, however due to many reasons, it is not suitable any more.