Implementation of an experimental extension program for virtual communities of farmers within the national wheat campaign in Sharkia governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

2 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

The study aimed to design an extension program for virtual communities of practice and test it in the villages of Meet Hamel and Meet Habib as part of the national wheat campaign. An action research approach was used to apply the initial model of the program, which was designed by reconciling the traditional model of developing extension programs with the model of community of practice development. The planning stage was based on a baseline survey conducted in December 2022, with a sample consisting of 54 farmers from the two villages, 7 input suppliers, and 11 company agents. A community was formed in each village, comprising service providers, farmers, extension workers, and researchers. The seasonal interaction follow-up relied on data from the WhatsApp application, guided by principles of content analysis. The final evaluation involved a telephone questionnaire conducted in July 2023 with 60 farmers from two villages to verify the validity of the proposed program items. The main considerations for building an extension program for the virtual community of practice included: ensuring the community formation is based on the profession rather than a specific crop, recognizing the need to slow down the intervention process once the communities are formed to allow for internal development, providing external information in line with the trends of discussion and in a timely manner, and linking extension activities in the village to the community of practice, whether they come from formal extension or other service providers.

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics