Biological yields through agricultural extension activities and services : a case study from Al-Baha region–Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

Purpose: This research determines the extent to which farmers benefit from agricultural extension activ- ities and services through realizing higher biological crop yields in the Al-Baha region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, the nature of the relationship between the personal, economic and social char- acteristics of farmers and the degree to which they benefit from agricultural extension activities and ser- vices are studied.

Methodology: A simple random sample representing the community of 315 farmers was drawn.

Data were collected through a personal interview with a pre-tested questionnaire to satisfy the objectives of the study.

Data are subjected to analyses and are interpreted in terms of percentages, arithmetic aver- ages, and standard deviations in addition to the simple Pearson correlation coefficients.

Results: The results show that most of the respondents depend on personal experience, friends, family and neighbors, merchants and sellers of agricultural production supplies as sources of agricultural infor- mation for enhanced crop yields.

Multiple regression analysis reveals that both the educational status and the agricultural information sources are important factors that increase farmers benefit from exten- sion activities.

Farmers receive most benefits from the extension activities and services from bringing in foreign workers, conducting field trips to farms, and identifying problems faced by farmers.

Research limitations/implications: The outcome of this questionnaire limits generalization of the findings for other parts of the Kingdom due to geographical and natural resources variations.

Practical implications: The personal and socio-economic characteristics of the surveyed population pro- vide the extension service with insight into their composition – a basis to formulate workable extension programs.

For the extension planners of the area, this effort provides a baseline study and may assist with targeting the appropriate farmers and catering the right solutions to the problems.

Such a study will help devise meaningful extension programs and save time and resources.

Originality/value: Little previous research on the usefulness of the Extension Service has been conducted in the region.