IRANIAN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND EDUCATION JOURNAL
Year:2009 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:11

The purpose of this research was to study the recruitment and perseverance in the agricultural labor market from personal, banking system, and government sector point of views for university graduates in agriculture who have received employment loan from the Agricultural Bank from 2001 to 2005. From the objective point of view this research is an applied and from the research method viewpoint, it is considered as a cause-correlation research. The research population was consisted of 52 production units that have been established by 117 agricultural graduates. Validity of the research instrument was confirmed by the research group and a Chronbach Coefficient was applied for the purpose of reliability through which a=0.87 was obtained. All 52 agricultural production units in Tehran province were surveyed and results revealed that the employment loan received from the Agricultural Bank had no effect on recruitment and amount of job perseverance for agricultural graduates in the agricultural job market. Meanwhile, there was no significance relationship between university courses passed and job market needs.

The aim of present investigation was to evaluate the sugar beet farmers’ investment regarding sustainable soil management technologies as well as analyzing the factors affecting this investment. The methodological approach in the research was a descriptive-correlational study of the survey type. The target population in the study was the sugar beet farmers of Khorasan – e - Razavi Province. Using multi-stage cluster sampling technique, 395 farmers were selected as a statistical sample in Torbat – e - Jam, Torbat – e - Heydarieh and Sabzevar Townships and finally, 94.9% of questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The face validity of questionnaire was specified after several times of review and correction by the faculty members at Tarbiat Modarres University and several experts of administrative offices. A pilot test was conducted to determine the reliability of the instrument and Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients were estimated between 0.71 and 0.93 for all parts of the questionnaire. The results of descriptive findings showed that investment of 54.1% (203 farmers) of studied sugar beet growers regarding soil improvement technologies in sugar beet fields were at relatively-low level. The results of means different analysis revealed that there are significant discrepancy between sugar beet growers’ investment regarding on - farm soil management practices in relation to use of perssurized irrigation method, soil test, extensionist, type of farming system and method of sugar beet cultivation. The result of stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that 47.9% (R2 = 0.479) of the variability in farmers’ investment with respect to on - farm soil management practices could be explained by variables of agricultural annual income, soil test, acceptance of extension advice, respondents’ skill regarding on-farm soil management, extension contacts, social participation, distance from sugar beet farm to agricultural sector of sugar factory and sugar beet yield per hectare. Based on the results, suggestions are presented for inhancing behavioral domains and investment of sugar beet growers regarding farm soil improvement technologies.

The purpose of this study was to recognize agricultural students’ learning styles and its impact on the academic performance. The design for this study was a descriptive-correlational research with data collected using questionnaire. The statistical population of this study consists of junior and senior students of agricultural colleges in public universities in the year 2006-2007 that a sample of 256 members was selected by using stratified random sampling method. Face validity of the instrument was determined by opinions of experts and faculty members and reliability of the instrument was determined by Cronbach’s alpha. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. The findings show that female students’ learning style was converging and male students’ learning style was accommodator. The means comparison test revealed that students with different type of learning style were significantly different (P=.05) in academic performance. Duncan’s test revealed that academic performance of accommodator students was more than diverger students. Also, academic performance of converging students was more than diverger students.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of individual and institutional factors on the research productivity of faculty members involved in agriculture. The research population comprises 303 faculty members from the University of Tehran (Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Abureihan) and Agricultural College of Tarbiat Modarres University. Needed individual information and research productivity were extracted from staff members files. To gather information concerning psychological and institutional factors, questionnaires were employed. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed through Cranach’s Alpha coefficient (0.74- 0.97). Results showed that for the Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Abureihan, there was a significant relationship between research productivity and academic rank, self confidence and corporate management (P=0.01). For the Agricultural College of Tarbiyat Modarres University, there was no significant relationship observed between ''individual factors'' and the research productivity. But such relationship existed between institutional factors including, clear research objectives and counseling system and research productivity (P=0.01). Regression analysis indicated that three variables, “counseling system”, “motivation”, and “network of communication with colleagues” determines 62.8% of the variations in research productivity.

The purpose of this research was to study attitudes of agricultural experts and administers toward Wheat Consultant Engineers Project (WCEsP) and explaining related problems. The research population consisted of all experts and administers in Zanjan province (N=98), of whom 59 were selected using simple random sampling method (n=59). This research was done based on survey research method. A questionnaire was designed and employed to gather the required data. A panel of experts verified the content validity of questionnaire. A pilot study was initially conducted to determine the reliability of the questionnaire (a=0.96). Findings in the study indicated that experts and administers attitude toward WCEs project was considered to be at good level. There was a statistically significant negative relationship between expert attitude, level of literacy, administration, and background; but there was significant positive relationship between expert's attitudes and age. Land dispersion, low literacy, dominant agriculture production system (small farmers), financial disability of farmers in order to cost recovery, and financial disability of farmers in application of recommendations were the main problems mentioned to be faced by the project.

Wheat producers require an assessment of their educational needs in production process. This would help them to improve their technical skills to reduce losses. The main purpose of this study was to assess educational extension needs of wheat producers to reduce wheat waste. This was an expose - facto research using survey method. The population for this research was wheat producers (N=65636) which were selected throughout the country based on the climatic zones (very cold, warm and dry, mild cold, warm and humid, and mild warm). The target population was 454 which were selected by the Cochran Formula. The results indicated that the lack of technical knowledge of wheat producers during planting season in 17 technical subjects, and during harvesting time 28 fields, and during growing season 3 technical subjects shows farmers had the highest amount of loss. The results also indicated that those farmers who had most wheat loss they felt they need most of training in 6 technical subjects during planting season, and during growing and harvesting season for each 4 technical subjects of need. The results indicated that among selected areas for this research, Marvdashat in Fars province had the highest waste during planting season, while Torbate - Heidaryeh from Khorasan province had the lowest waste. However, the Shooshtar from Khozestan province had highest and the Gonbad-Kavoos from Golestan province had the lowest loss during harvesting season.

The present research has been conducted with the purpose of identifying Ramin Agricultural and Natural Resources University students' perspective toward evaluation system of faculty members teaching quality. The present research was a descriptive and correlational study. The target population in the study consisted of 591 Master of Science and Bachelor of science students of the university, from whom 250 were sampled through random sampling procedure. Data were collected through a questionnaire (that its validity were tested by faculty and Cornbach's alpha was used to estimate the reliability that (a=0.87) and were analyzed using SPSS. The results show that the ability to express and convey scientific concepts is the most important evaluation indicator of teaching quality. From the viewpoints of these two academic groups, teaching skills and mastery over the subject matter are the most important characteristics of a successful university lecturer. Most of students agreed with use of the more familiar indicators instead of current indicators. There was a significant difference between students' perspective in relation to field variable about important of every quality teaching evaluation indicators. But there isn’t any a significant difference between students' perspective in relation to average variable.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the agricultural water management skills of farmers in Zarindasht County, Fars province. This research was a survey studies and a questionnaire was compiled for collection of data and information. Questionnaire's reliability was confirmed through computing Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was 0.70. Face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. Statistical population of this study was consisted of 4648 farmers; out of which 150 people were selected as sample using multi-stage sampling technique. The finding revealed that farmer's skills were not appropriate in the cases of "electro pomp maintenance" and "improving underground water tables". This implies, their skills on modern technologies related to agricultural water management needs to be improved. Further analysis showed that there were negative significant relationships between farmer's skill and water management with their age, farming experience and confronting level to the problem of water management while this variable was positively and significantly correlated with farmer's education level. According to ANOVA, farmers categorized based a locality, type at transferring water and perceived water shortage were significantly different in terms of their water management skills.