An Evaluating Study of Some Aspects Regarding Farmer's Cotton Production and Marketing in Some Villages in El-Behera Governorate

This research aimed to determine executive knowledge level concerning cotton farming and gathering recommendations, define presence extent of production ingredients and its prices, availability of cotton farming labourers and their cost, the marketing agencies which farmers deal with and its main marketing services, and the process of determining cotton grade.
Data were collected by personal interviews using a pretested questionnaire during Desember 2006, from a random sample amounted to 150 cotton growers of El-Roda village, El-Mahmodia district, Kelishan village, Etay El-Barood district and Lakana village, Shobrakhit district, El-Behera Governorate. Means standard deviation, frequencies, percentages were used to present and analyze data statistically.
The results revealed that :
● 75.3% of the respondents with moderate executive knowledge level concerning cotton farming technical recommendations, their executive knowledge level was high concerning lining rate, handel getting red of grasses, planting spaces, adding animal manure with percentages 95.3% , 89.3% , 82% and 75.3% of the respondents respectively, it was moderate concerning stop irrigation, digging, with percentages 70% and 66% of the respondents respectively, while it was low concerning the rest.
● 98.7% , 75.3% , 57.3% , 55.3% , 36.7% and 36.7% of the respondents with common wrong executive knowledge where they believe that cotton is growing in late date to protect the crop of Boll worms, adding 30-45 kg of phosphate fertilizer (the recommended rate is 22.5 kg) growing cotton crop during May, irregular irrigation, growing cotton crop during April, setting fire cotton straw, respectively.
● 65.3% of the respondents with moderate level concerning gathering and marketing cotton crop recommendations, and the rest respondents were high. 100%, 100%, 98.7% and 92% of the respondents know execute gathering cotton in two stages, using new sacks, using threads of cotton fibres for sewing sacks, not mix the crop of the first and the second stages respectively.
● 100% , 90.7% and 62.6% of the respondents with common wrong executive knowledge so they believe in arrangeing gathering labourers in one row take all boll, using fertilizer sacks mod of blastic in gathering process, late gathering up to 60% opening boll respectively.
● Pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds are enough present for 90% , 88.7% and 82% of the respondents, but the prices of pesticides and pertilizers are high.
● Gathering process is expensive and its labourares were not enough according to opinion of 93.3% and 74% of the respondents respectively.
● 88.7% of the respondents sold quantity of their cotton crop to merchants and 98% of them sold quantity to Agricultural Cooperation. Marketing service facilities available to respondents were very limited.
● All the respondents sold their crops without determining its order, the prices of the first gathering equal to the second, it changed from day to another not from farmer to another, so there is no incentive to raise the order of the crop.