Assessing Growers’ Perceptions of Effective Extension Methods and Information Communication Technologies for Training Vegetable Growers in Jordan

The study examined the effectiveness of agricultural extension education methods as perceived by vegetable growers in Jordan to meet their assessed needs in areas of production, marketing and management. A random sample of 98 vegetable growers in two governorates in Jordan was used. Four point Likert-type scales were used as instruments to gather primary data. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.88 to 0.91 indicated high internal consistency for the scales. Nonparametric methods were used to analyze the data based on approximations to normal distribution. The results showed that aged people with basic education and who are very largely dependent on farm income are still the ones most engaged in vegetable farming. The most preferred extension methods by farmers were farm visit, meeting groups of farmers, result demonstrations and farm tours. Low rated methods include information and communications technologies (ICTs). The method to be chosen depends on the goal and adoption stage, i.e. whether we wish to change knowledge, attitude, skills or behavior. Extension staff needs to be trained on how to use ICT tools as an extension method to enable them to train farmers on how they can use them in extension. The involvement of public extension staff in the survey contributes to the selection of extension delivery method on the bases of its ability to deliver the appropriate information to the targeted farmers in the right time.