The Extension Needs for Caraway, Farmers in El Mesery Agricultural Cooperative - El Amereia-Alexandria Governorate

This research mainly aimed at studying the extension needs of caraway farmers in El-Mesery Agricultural Cooperative-El Amereia - Alexandria Governorate.
    This necessitated the achievement of the following sub-objectives: (1) Identify some of the respondents 'characteristics, (2) Identify the cognitive level of the respondents, (3) Identify the related and influencing variables on the cognitive level of the respondents, (4) Identify the respondents' trends towards caraway cultivation, ( 5) Identifying the related and influencing variables in the respondents ’attitudes towards caraway cultivation, (6) Identifying the most important problems they face in cultivating and marketing the caraway crop. The personal interview questionnaire form was used to complete the field data from a random sample of 200 respondents, and the percentages, range, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, frequency tables and simple correlation coefficient of Pearson were used in the presentation, discussion and analysis of the results. statistical analysis.The study concluded many research results, the most prominent of which are the following:
1-With regard to the characteristics of the studied caraway farmers, the research results indicated that 66%Of the total respondents, their ages are less than 40-53 years, and that (32.5%) of the respondents are illiterate, and that the farmers studied have all previously cultivated medicinal and aromatic plants, and the percentage of those with moderate experience reached 42.5%, of the total respondents
2-The low cognitive level in caraway cultivation is 15%, the average cognitive level is 69%, and the high cognitive level is 16%, and the results showed a positive and significant correlation at the probability level 0.01 Between the cognitive level of the surveyed farmers and each of the following independent variables: full-time agricultural work, the number of years of experience cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants, media openness, agricultural information sources, membership of organizations, opinion leadership, readiness for change, living satisfaction, level of ambition and direction towards agricultural extension. While that correlation was positive and significant at the probability level 0.05 with both age and educational level, while that relationship was negative and significant at the probability level 0.05 with the variable of agricultural land tenure, It was not clear that there was a significant correlation relationship between the dependent variable and only two independent variables: the number of family members and community participation. The subsistence variable, devotion to agricultural work, and that these four independent variables collectively affect the dependent variable by 74.1% and that the organizational membership variable is more influential in the dependent variable as it helps explain 61% of the possible variation in the dependent variable.
 3- The percentage of those with positive trends towards caraway cultivation was 25.5%, neutral trends 54.5%, and negative trends 20% of the total number of farmers surveyed, and it was found that there was a positive and significant correlation at the probability level 0.01 between the trends of the surveyed caraway farmers and each of the independent variables The following: exposure to the media, community participation, membership of organizations, opinion leadership, willingness to change, living satisfaction, and level of ambition. While that correlation was positive and significant at the probability level 0,05 with the variable of agricultural work, while that relationship was negative and significant at the probability level 0,01 with a variable Only one is the educational level, and the research results showed that there is no significant relationship between the dependent variable and each of the following independent variables: age, number of family members, agricultural land tenure, number of years of experience in growing medicinal and aromatic plants, and sources of agricultural information. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that There are only two independent variables that collectively affect the attitudes of caraway growers of the respondents towards cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants as a dependent variable, namely the level of ambition and community participation. It contributes to explaining 29.7% of the possible variance in the dependent variable 4- The research results indicated that the surveyed caraway growers face many problems related to the cultivation and marketing of the caraway crop, the most important of which are: the prevalence of nematodes and grass weeds 78%, the absence of agricultural extension 18.5%, the difficulty of obtaining fertilizers, 5.5%, and that the problems of marketing the caraway crop are The problem of low sales price 78,5%, lack of opportunities to contract with agencies to market the crop 50%, lack of sawmills 15%, absence of marketing guidance 13%, unavailability of packing packages 10%, and high transport costs 1.5% of the total number of farmers surveyed .