Author(s): Faisal Sultan Alsubaiee, Yousif Naser Aldraim, Siddig Eltaeeb Muneer and Ibrahim Mohamed Alshuhwan
Article publication date: 2012-12-01
Vol. 30 No. 4 (yearly), pp. 199-207.
1361
Keywords
Date Palm pests. Date Palm diseases. agricultural technologies. adoption rate. productivity. agricultural extension.
Abstract
Date palm trees are infected by different diseases and pests that negatively affect its quality and productivity. The control of these pests and diseases requires the use of appropriate technologies to minimize the infection rate and crop losses. This study was intended to determine the adoption rate of some diseases and pests control technologies and methods among Date Palm farmers in Dammam area of Saudi Arabia and the most important factors affecting it. Data was collected through face to face interviews from a simple random sample of 111 Date Palm farmers in the study area using a validated and pre-tested questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (frequency distribution. mean and standard deviation) and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. The study results indicated that the adoption rates of the diseases and pests control technologies and methods by Date farmers are very low. Only one practices (getting rid of agricultural residues immediately) out of the seventeenth technologies and methods under consideration reached medium level. The adoption rates of the other technologies and methods were low and all of them were less than two on an adoption scale of four points. The study revealed that the most important determinants of the adoption rate of the diseases and pests control technologies and methods by Date Palm farmers were the farmers’ level of contact with the different sources of information and farm size; each of them had a statistically significant effect.