مصادر المعلومات و الخدمات الإرشادية الزراعية و أثرها على إنتاجية المانجو بمنطقة جيزان، المملكة العربية السعودية

Abstract EN

To investigate the effect of the information sources and agricultural extension services provided by the Agricultural Extension Service for mango growers in Gizan area - Saudi Arabia, a questionnaire was designed for collecting data via personal interview of randomly selected 100 growers.

The study showed that 88% of the examined growers was at different levels of education, which was reflected positively on some of specific agricultural practices for mango production.

Also, 82% of the examined growers used grafting method for propagation of mango trees, half of the growers used spacing of 8 x 8 m for planting grafted mango trees; and 46% of the examined growers used drip irrigation method.

It was found that the majority of the growers used chemical and organic fertilizers.

It was revealed that the increase in the average income of the mango growers was higher than that of other crops.

The findings, also, showed that 77% of the examined growers were partially benefited from the visits of the agricultural extensions and 19% of them were totally benefited from such visits.

The study of the information sources revealed that the television agricultural programs ranked first followed by the agricultural extensions, radio agricultural programs and extension handouts and pamphlets; this was due to the high level of education prevailed among the examined growers.

According to the point of view of the respondents, the field visits of the agricultural extensions to the growers ranked first as far as the agricultural services are concerned followed by the distribution of extension handouts and pamphlets, conveying the grower’s problems to the agricultural research stations and then performing demonstration fields uted.

Control of the pests and diseases reached 100%, this was attributed to the level of education among the growers as far as symptoms and methods of control are concerned and, also, due to the important role-played by the agricultural extension.

It was found that the information sources and the agricultural extension services used among the mango growers in Gizan area, Saudi Arabia had a positive effect on the increase in mango production among the examined growers.