JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH
Year:2020 | Volume:- | Issue:53|Papers Count:10

In many countries increasing agricultural sustainability is one of the proposed approaches to help Problems solving such as hunger, poverty and disability. In this regard, people and especially farmers are in need of education as a driving force for the country's economy. However, few studies have particularly addressed the obstacles to agricultural education in sustainable development. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and analyzing educational barriers in sustainable agricultural development. The statistical population of this study composed of all learners and educators in Lordegan County Agricultural Education Center participating in the educational programs. 112 ones were selected using Krejcie and Morgan table and random sampling method. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. In this research 7 factors were extracted using Exploratory factor analysis. These factors consist of. managerialsupportive., . quality of education., . communicational-informational., . infrastructure., . cultural., . psychological., and. environmental. factors, respectively according to their importance; which explained 67. 69% of the total variances. Each of these factors should be considered according to their significance in order to obviate educational barriers in sustainable agricultural development. In addition, the results of independent t-test showed that there is a significant difference between the two groups including educators and learners in terms of. managerial-supportive., . communicational-informational., . quality of education., . infrastructure. Nevertheless, there is no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the. environmental. and. cultural. factors.

The objective of this study was to assess the educational needs of Jahrom citrus growers in agricultural e-commerce using the Borich need assessment model. For this purpose, a quantitative research method based on the survey was used. The statistical population consisted of Khafr and central parts of Jahrom county, which are the center of citrus production in this county (N = 906). The Krejcie and Morgan table was used to determine the sample size. 270 citrus growers were selected by the stratified random sampling method with the appropriate assignment from two parts of Khafr and central of Jahrom county. A two-part questionnaire was used for data collection. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a number of experts and the reliability of the questionnaires was confirmed using ordinal alpha values of 0. 88 and 0. 92, respectively, for the variables of importance and ability. According to the mean weighted discrepancy scores between importance and capability, among 28 educational topics, 18 were identified as the educational priorities. In order to develop e-commerce activities, creating/strengthening of these should be placed at the top of the training programs. The results of the F-statistic of one-way ANOVA test showed that the educational needs of older and less educated groups were higher than those of younger and more educated individuals. The results of multivariate regression analysis also showed that the variables of age, level of education and income in a model could explain 39. 8% of the variations of educational needs.

Implementation of extension sites approach is one of the activities for empowering the farmers. The aims of extension site approach were increasing in quality and quantity and sustainable production of agricultural products. The purpose of this study was to compare consumption of inputs in five crops of irrigated wheat, rain fed wheat, rapeseed, sugar beet and potato before and after implementation of extension sites approach in Hamedan province in 2018-2019. This research is applied in term of purpose, is survey in term of collecting data, is quasi-experimental in term of controlling variables and is ex-post facto research in term of analyzing the data. The statistical population included 78 extension sites approach in Hamedan province. For selecting the sample, first of all five cities of Kabudar Ahang (north), Hamedan (center), Nahavand (south), Famenin (east), and Asadabad (west) selected from different geographical situation. The number of extension sites approach were 43 in these cities. Using Krejcie and Morgan’ s sampling table, 36 sites selected as sample and unit of analysis (n=36). Following that 142 main and functional farmers were selected and studied using random sampling method. The results of t-test showed that the consumption of inputs decreased after the implementation of extension sites approach and there were differences between consumption of inputs before and after running model site, except for human labor force. In addition, farmer’ s income and performance per unit area have increased since the extension site was launched.

This study, to investigate the role of communication, participatory, and components of different, it on teaching the farmers the direction of aligning them in line with the use of new technologies in production to achieve higher production and increase productivity is investigated. Due to the climatic conditions and the limitations of the source, including the water, is necessary; for the transformation in agriculture in our country, from the accompaniment of farmers to run a successful program, including changing cropping pattern and the use of new technologies of production used. In the meantime, the role of education and promotion as strategies for engineering the thoughts of farmers to change attitudes and behavior and to create change underlying in traditional production methods, products, etc., it is essential that one of the strategies they use, communication, collaborative learning, and agriculture. The research observation is qualitative and narrative analysis in which a profound interview tool has been used. In this study, 15 agricultural workers have been interviewed in the villages of Mashhad, also, using documentary Method and library study, the previous study has been done. The combination of interviews and studies carried out showed that despite the willingness of farmers crushed into traditional approaches to the reasons such as lack of financial resources for the purchase of equipment and insufficient training, promotion, etc. agriculture workers insist, " the role of providing training in modern farming from the vent methods of communication, participatory, effective and read on the necessity of the use of such methods, such as; the "school farm" in the cell, making the farmers toward the use of new technologies.

Precision agriculture is one of the new aspects of sustainable agriculture. In this type of agriculture, the management of crop production inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, seeds, etc. is implemented based on the spatial characteristics of the farm with the aim of reducing waste, increasing income and maintaining environmental quality. On the other hand, when pesticides are used within the framework of the pest management program and taking into account the ecological and environmental aspects, they are considered as a reliable and valuable tool. The general purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors affecting the attitude and behavioral tendencies of the experts of Bushehr Agricultural Jihad Organization towards the application of pesticide application technology (spraying variable). Cross-sectional survey research method and multi-stage random sampling method were used to collect information from 110 experts in Bushehr province. The results indicate that the behavioral tendency variable is affected by the variables of attitude about the benefits of variable spraying technologies and behavioral attitude. Also, the variables of perception of usefulness and individual modernity affect the variable of behavioral attitude. This research was completed by adding external variables to the technology acceptance model. Findings show the importance of individual modernity in shaping the attitude and behavioral tendencies of experts and this should be considered in planning for the adoption of these technologies.

Increasing the recruitment of girls in universities compared to boys and the individual, social and cultural constraints available to them in finding employment in agricultural majors have made this difficult for graduates, and the unemployment problem for this group of graduates has become more complicated than men. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify individual and social psychological components affecting the employability of female’ s agricultural graduates in Hamadan province, which has been done by a qualitative method. Selecting the samples was based on the snowball sampling method among the group of graduates, agricultural specialists and employers including 25samples. The data collection tools were semi-structured interviews, and the data analysis method was proceeded using MAXQDA Version12. in order to identify themes and in order to establish relationships between themes a process of causal, interventional, contextual, strategy, and outcome conditions was used. Based on the findings, the most important causal conditions affecting individual and social psychology of female’ s agricultural graduates’ employability in Hamedan province are: individual limitations, norms and cultural beliefs, social limitations and sexual beliefs. The strategies for improving the conditions of female agricultural graduates’ employability include: reforming government policies, changing beliefs, correcting behavioral patterns, and providing practical and informant training.

This causal-research study was conducted with the general purpose of factors affecting the performance of learners participating in the horticulture-vegetable and summer cultivation training course in urban agriculture. The statistical population of this study is the total number of learners participating in urban agriculture training courses held by the General Department of Municipal Education of Tehran Region 2 in 2019 (N = 80). In this study, census method was used. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The apparent and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a group of experts and the estimation of the reliability of the questionnaire was provided by calculating the sequential alpha (α = 0. 97). Data analysis was performed using SPSS25 and AMOS23 software. According to the findings, the reaction with an average of 7. 77 and the attitude of learners towards the horticulture-vegetable and summer cultivation training course in urban agriculture with an average of 7. 02 =, is considered desirable. The level of knowledge of the learners participating in this course before the course with an average of 5. 18 at the average level and after participating in the course with an average of 8. 86 was very high. Path analysis findings using AMOS23 software also showed that the variable of agricultural work experience of learners (β = 0. 99) has the greatest impact on their performance. Then the variables of learners 'reaction to the course (β = 0. 85), age of learners (β = 0. 83), knowledge (β = 0. 63) and students' attitude towards the course (β = 0. 62) They have the greatest impact on their performance. Meanwhile, the variables of learners' participation history in classes and extension training courses related to urban agriculture (β = 0. 42) and their level of education (β = 0. 39) Also affect the performance of learners participating in the training course of horticulture-vegetable growing and summer urban agriculture, respectively. Therefore, since urban agriculture is one of the components of sustainable urban development, citing the findings of this study can pay more attention to the training of learners in supporting decisions to achieve sustainable development by policy makers, planners and relevant managers. Be exploited.

This descriptive (correlational) research was conducted for studying the effects of students and graduates’ perceptions to the curriculum of their courses in agriculture field, on their job skills development and their chance for holding a job. 274 present and former students of agriculture field of study in Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, were selected by stratified random sampling method. Data were collected by Moghadam questionnaire (2013), and analyzed. Surface validity of questionnaire was confirmed (r=. 73) and the reliability coefficient (. 89) is acceptable. Frequencies showed that over 82 percent of participants were unemployed. The results of regression analysis tell us that Perceptions of schooling and job expectances of participants, predicted over than 46 percent of job skills variances. Positive perceptions to the curricula has significantly positive effect on expectances of their present and future jobs. The correlation between present students and graduates’ perceptions of theoretical and practical subjects with their perceptions of job skills development, is significantly positive and improvement of students’ perceptions to their courses, improve their hope to holding a job. Relationship between theoretical and practical subjects can improve students’ perceptions of curriculum and their university, and as a result, the required skills for holding a job are developed.

Identifying the obstacles limiting the level of use of social network sites (SNS) in educating activities by the stakeholders of the educational system can help in informed decision-making and planning in this field. The aim of this study was to identify the barriers to the use of SNSs in agricultural higher education from the perspective of faculty members and students. The statistical population included 1215 faculty and 36132 students of public agricultural colleges of Iran. Using multi-stage random sampling method, 211 faculty and 400 students from different universities were selected and studied. Data were collected by a questionnaire taken from the results of previous studies with a five-level Likert scale. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed discriminately and reliability with a composite reliability coefficient. Data were analyzed by t-test, Mann-Whitney, and structural equation modeling using partial least squares method. The results showed that the rate of educational use of SNSs by students is more than professors and their attitude towards the use of these networks in teaching and learning is more positive than faculty members. The modeling results also indicate that the factors related to students, type of lessons, and characteristics of SNSs have a negative and significant relationship with the educational use of faculty members of these networks. Also, factors related to faculty members, educational organizations, and software and hardware inhibitors show a negative and significant relationship between students' use of social networks in education.

The purpose of this study was to present a model of the impact of social capital and intellectual capital of trainers and trainers of Mazandaran Agricultural Research and Training Center on their educational performance. The research method was applied in terms of purpose and exploratory in terms of mixed data type. The statistical population also included all trainers and trainers of Mazandaran Agricultural Research and Training Center, numbering 122 people, of which, using Cochran's formula, 95 people were selected as a statistical sample using stratified random sampling method. To collect data, from documentary and library study method, search through electronic sources, interviews and standard social capital questionnaires based on Nahapit and Goshal model (1998) and intellectual capital based on Bontis and Hulland model (2002) and researcher questionnaire. Made the performance of coaches and trainers used. Exploratory factor analysis, factor loading, t-test and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data using SMART-PLS software. The results showed that the coefficient of social capital of educators and trainers on educational performance was 0. 362 and the coefficient of their intellectual capital on educational performance was equal to 0. 245. Therefore, it can be concluded with 95% confidence that social capital and intellectual capital are significantly related to and affect the educational performance of educators and trainers of Mazandaran Agricultural Research and Training Center. The results also showed that the intellectual capital of educators and educators plays a mediating role in the impact of social capital on their educational performance.