Potato Farmers' Perception of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Some Villages. Kom Hamada District. Beheira Governorate

This study mainly aimed to identify potato farmers' perception of good agricultural practices (GAPs) in some villages of Kom Hamada District. Beheira Governorate. This can be achieved through the following sub-objectives: (a) Identify some of the distinctive personal characteristics of the potato farmers surveyed; (b) Determine the degree of self-assessment of the importance of GAPs for the potato farmers surveyed; (c) Determine the degree of self-assessment of the actual application of GAPs for the potato farmers surveyed; (d) Identify the significance of the differences between the degree of self-assessment of the importance and the degree of self-assessment of the actual application of GAPs for the potato farmers surveyed. (e) Identify the problems faced by the potato farmers surveyed when applying GAPs. (f) Identify the suggestions of the potato farmers surveyed to overcome the problems hindering the application of GAPs. The research data were collected using a questionnaire and personal interview from 208 respondents as a regular random sample of 13% of the total research population. Some descriptive statistical methods were used such as percentages. frequencies. arithmetic means. standard deviation. range. and Chi-squared test (χ²) for independence. This was done by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Excel program on the computer. Among the most important results of this study: It became clear that the largest age group is the group in which the age of the respondents ranged from 39 to less than 52 years. with a percentage of 37.98%. It also became clear that those with 18 years or more of experience in potato cultivation amounted to 61.06%. It was noted that more than half of the respondents (51.44%) fell within the category of average potato productivity. It became clear that more than two-thirds of the respondents. at a rate of 72.11%. were concentrated in the categories of medium and high exposure to information sources about the potato crop. It became clear that the low estimate of the respondents for the average degree of importance of the practices "health and safety of the worker. record keeping. tracking. and product handling" was noted. On the other hand. the relatively high estimate of the respondents for the average degree of importance of the practices "varieties and plant origins. and crop protection" was noted. In the case of the degree of estimate Subjective to the actual application of good agricultural practices. it was noted that the respondents had a low estimate of the average degree of actual application of the practices of "record keeping. health. safety and security of workers. traceability. and waste management with the aim of preventing environmental pollution". while on the other hand. a relatively high estimate was noted of the respondents for the average degree of actual application of the practice of "harvesting". while the average estimate of the respondents for the average degree of actual application of the practice of "date and place of cultivation". More than three-quarters of the respondents. amounting to 78.37%. were in the categories of medium and high exposure to problems when applying good agricultural practices for potato crops. A number of (9) good agricultural practices were found for the potato farmers surveyed. namely (traceability. date and place of cultivation. soil and equipment management. use of fertilizers and pesticides. irrigation and fertilization with irrigation water. crop protection. harvesting. product handling. health. safety and security of workers). between which there was a relationship and correlation (not independent) between each of the degree of self-assessment of importance and the degree of self-assessment of the actual application of each practice separately; While there is a good agricultural practice for the potato farmers surveyed. which is (record keeping). there is no (independent) relationship or correlation between the self-assessed degree of importance and the self-assessed degree of actual application. It is worth noting in this regard that the chi-square (χ²) test of independence was rejected for (2) good agricultural practices for the potato farmers surveyed. which are (varieties and plant origins. and waste management to prevent environmental pollution). because the expected values ​​are less than 5. It was also noted that the problem of high potato seed prices ranked first. while on the other hand. the problem of not implementing an integrated pest control system for potato crops ranked last according to the relative importance index among farmers. Among the most common suggestions of the potato farmers surveyed to overcome the problems that hinder the implementation of good agricultural practices. considering the frequency distribution. are providing good. disease-free seeds at reasonable prices. increasing supervision of seed traders. and providing support regarding production requirements such as pesticides and fertilizers.