Farmers' Knowledge of the Technical Recommendations for Using Plastic Greenhouses as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Method in some Villages of Sharkia Governorate

The research mainly aimed to determine the degree of knowledge of the farmers of the technical recommendations under plastic greenhouses as a climate-smart agriculture method, through the following sub-objectives: identifying the general characteristics of the farmers surveyed, identify the sources of information from which the researchers obtain their information about agriculture under plastic greenhouses, identify the reasons that prompted the researchers to use plastic greenhouses in agriculture,  determine the degree of knowledge of the researchers of the conditions that must be observed for agriculture under plastic greenhouses, identify the services provided by agricultural guidance to the researchers in the field of agriculture under plastic greenhouses, identify the problems facing the researchers in the field of using plastic greenhouses for agriculture as a climate-smart agriculture method. This research was conducted based on the social survey method using the sample method in some villages of Sharkia Governorate, where the research sample amounted to 511 respondents and the sample items were selected randomly, and the data was collected in the period from September to December 2023, and frequency tables and percentages were used in the statistical analysis of the data. The most important results of this research are that about half of the respondents were of middle age (48%), and about half of the respondents had an intermediate level of education (52%). As for the marital status, the vast majority of the respondents were married and had children (92%), and the number of their children was less than 3 (55%). It was also found that they owned small agricultural holdings (69%), and had small greenhouses (64%). As for the profession, the majority worked in agriculture only (75%), and their experience in greenhouse farming was weak (68%). Their attitude towards the new was positive (68%), and their exposure to information sources was average (55%). It was also found that the level of knowledge of the respondents about the conditions for establishing greenhouses was high (54%), and it was also found that the level of knowledge of the technical recommendations for farming under plastic greenhouses was high (100%). It was also found that the most knowledgeable aspects of agricultural operations were seeds, collection and harvesting, irrigation, and fertilization, while the least known aspects were soil sterilization and pest control. Pests and it was also found that the level of advisory services was between medium and high at 59%, and it was also found that the problems facing farmers were medium at 53%.