The decision of wheat farmers to attend some agricultural extension activities in Al-Alam, Salah Al-Din Governorate / Iraq

The research aimed to identify the level of farmers ,decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in the area of Al-Alam in Salah al-Din Governorate in general, and to identify the level of wheat farmers decisions towards attendance in each of the research fields (the extension meeting, the seminar, the field day), finding the correlation between the level of wheat farmers decisions and each of the independent variables, So the area of Al-Alam was chosen as a region for conducting the research, due to the presence of a large number of wheat farmers, who numbered 704, a random sample of 10% was selected, with size of 70 respondents. The questionnaire was used as a tool to collect data from the respondents, consisting of two parts. The first part included some independent variables and, The second part included(34) standard paragraphs, to measure the level of wheat farmers decisions distributed in three areas, Using three-Level scale (high, medium, weak). The results showed the the study about decision not interest of farmers in the indicative activities directed to them in general, as well in every field of research and found relationship correlation between farmers decisions and the variables


INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH PROBLEM
The agricultural sector is the main pillar of progress in any society, so the presence of an agricultural sector dominates modernization by taking advantage of the achievements of agricultural sciences and contemporary technological methods. An indisputable necessity (Rashidi, 2008: 2). Agricultural development as one of the components of rural development depends on the rapid flow of information and technologies. Modern agricultural from sources of discovery and invention to farmers as they are sources of consumption in order to adopt them and apply them in different agricultural systems, and this requires effective indicative activities aimed at providing farmers with these technologies and agricultural developments, and induce them to cause behavioral changes and the development of positive trends towards the application of these technologies in order to increase agricultural production oualitatively and qualitatively. (Saqr and Issam , 2008: 89-90).
The development of the agricultural sector is an effective weapon to reduce poverty and achieve food security for any country (Cerdán-Infantes et al, 2009: 1). In this sense, the presence of effective extension activities, and good farmers receiving the content of extension activities are important factors in sustainable agricultural and rural development for reduction the gap between population increase and food requirements in quality and quantity, through the use of modern agricultural technologies, physical capabilities, available natural resources, and rationalization of their consumption in a way that guarantees the rights of future generations through the use and application of modern technological methods and reducing the further depletion of natural resources (Mahmoud and Mohamed ,2015 :2).
Cereal crops are of fundamental importance in building human life and have played a role in the past, as the pillar on which the world's civilizations were based and continues to play the important role in modern civilizations today, and despite the industrial and technical progress in the world, increased agricultural production, especially cereals, is a subject of concern to many countries of the world, where it is no longer hidden from one of the importance of cereal crops as a staple and basic food, because of the possibility of producing these crops in large quantities and easily stored, and transported in addition to being a cheap source of energy and protein, wheat is the most important of these cereal crops in terms of ease of cultivation and spread and the unique characteristic of some of its varieties in Production of bread while other types are suitable for producing pastries (Al-Hayali, 2012: 3). Agricultural extension seeks to bring about many desired changes in knowledge, skills and directions not only between farmers, but also among all members of the rural family, and these changes cannot be made easily or improvised, but rather through indicative programs that are well planned and implemented on scientific grounds (Khairi, etal , 2009 : 433).
The process of transferring knowledge aims to bring about cognitive changes among farmers by adding new information to increase their knowledge and create awareness of them with the problems facing them and create favorable conditions to make them actively seek information and request extension service and not just a negative reception of information which contributes to improving the conditions of farmers and achieving behavioral justice (Al-Rimawi , 1995 :230) Agricultural extension services play an important role in developing agriculture and improving the welfare of farmers in particular and the rural population in general, through its contribution to increasing agricultural production and improving its quality through technology transfer to farmers, and increasing farmers' knowledge and education. Their field management skills, and agricultural extension services also play an important role in transferring problems from farmers to scientific research centers to help them solve them (Waddington, 2010: 1), as farmers who are exposed to the influence of the direct effect of extension work ,and increases in the percentage of their knowledge and providing them with the necessary skills at every stage of the production process from agriculture to harvest. Targeted guiding activities are the effective tool that agricultural extension uses to transfer agricultural technologies and developments to farmers, and the extent of benefiting from these activities depends on the extent of the presence of farmers with their various characteristics. The personal, social and communication activities of these activities for the purpose of providing them with the information and expertise necessary to increase the quantity and quality of agricultural production, and since the process of planning programs and extension activities starts from the top towards the base and not the other way around, it is natural to face these activities with a kind of negativity and indifference (Farid, 2008: 32), so The extent of benefiting from the content of extension activities depends primarily on farmers 'decisions to attend these activities, and the area of knowledge was chosen as a region for conducting the research due to the large number of wheat growers in this region, hence the idea of the current research came to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the level of wheat farmers' decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in the area of AL-Alam in Salah al-Din Governorate in general? 2. What is the level of farmers 'decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in each field of research? 3. How do farmers 'decisions relate to some independent variables related to them?.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:
The research aims to the following 1-Identify the level of wheat farmers 'decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in the area AL-Alam of in Salah Al-Din Governorate. 2-Identify the level of wheat farmers 'decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in each of the following of the research fields: (the extension meeting, the extension seminar, the day filed). 3-Determining the descending order of the research fields according to the percentage weight of each field. 4-Finding the correlation between the wheat farmers 'decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities and each of the following independent variables: (age, educational level, participation in extension activities, number of years of wheat crop cultivation, information sources related to extension activities, attitude towards extension activities).

RESEARCH IMPORTANCE:
The current research contributes to providing information to the extension organization about farmers 'decisions towards attending these activities held by agricultural extension workers in the extension training center or outside it, and providing information on the variables and factors that hinder the farmers' decisions towards attending these extension activities, and how to avoid them and work to encourage and guide farmers towards the presence and importance of these activities for wheat farmers as the most important strategic crop, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the importance of activities in introducing farmers to modern agricultural technologies and their effective role in increasing agricultural productivity and production both quantity and quality.

PROCEDURAL DEFINITIONS :
1-Farmer decisions: a position taken by wheat farmers from attending or not attending extension activities. 2-Wheat farmers: All wheat farmers in Al-Alam district, Salah Al-Din Governorate. 3-Agricultural extension activities: the activities of the different extension systems in the research fields, such as the extension meeting, extension seminars, and the day of the extension field.

THE HYPOTHESIS RESEARCH :
The research assumes that there is no correlation between wheat cultivation decisions towards the attendance of some agricultural extension activities and each of the following independent variables: (age, educational level, participation in extension activities, number of years of wheat crop cultivation, information sources related to extension activities, attitude towards activities indicative).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The descriptive approach was using to achieve the goals of the current research, as it is appropriate to collect data on the decisions that farmers make regarding attending extension activities and helps to describe the phenomenon in an accurate description to extract its implications and reach adequate results (Al-Rashidi , 2002:16).

SEARCH AREA:
AL-Alam area in the Tikrit district -Salah al-Din Governorate, which is inhabited by a large number of wheat farmers, was chosen as the first economic crop for farmers and their families, as they depend on the economic resource achieved from marketing the wheat crop to fill the needs of their families.

SAMPLE AND POPULATION OF THE RESEARCH :
The research population included all wheat farmers in the area of AL-Alam, who numbered (1500) farmers according to statistics of the records of the Department of AL-Alam Agriculture, distributed among the villages belonging to the AL-Alam judiciary, 3 villages were randomly chosen from them, representing 45% of the total villages, the number of farmers in them reached 732 farmers and after excluding the first test sample The amount (28) farmers, has become a comprehensive search (704) farmers, a simple random sample (10%) was selected, as the number of its members reached (70) respondents.

DESIGN A QUESTIONNAIRE:
A questionnaire was prepared as a tool to collect research data, which consisted of two parts. The first part included questions about the set of independent variables studied: (age, educational level, participation in extension activities, number of years of wheat crop cultivation, sources of information related to extension activities, and the attitude towards extension activities), The attitude was measured through (8) paragraphs with a 3-level scale in front of it (Agree, Neutral, Disagree. The second part included a scale for measuring farmers 'decisions towards attending extension activities consisting of 34 standard paragraphs distributed over research areas, before which a three-tiered scale (high decision, medium decision, weak decision) was set before it, and values were specified for it (1,2,3), respectively, as showed in Table 1:

The fields
The items Theoretical field The first area: the extension meeting 12 12 -36 The second area: extension Seminar 12 12 -36 The third field: a field indicative day 10 10 -30 The total 34 34 -102 Validity and reliability : The questionnaire was presented to a number of specialists in the subject and field of research and their opinions were taken and the amendment or deletion and addition to some paragraphs of the questionnaire were taken. And to calculate the stability, a preliminary test was conducted on a random sample of (28) respondents, and even-odd split-half method was used to calculate the stability using the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.65 and represents the stability of half of the scale, and for the scale as a whole use the Spearman Brown correlation coefficient of 0.78 , And the validity was calculated by the root of the stability factor, where it reached a value of 0.88, thus the form was characterized by high stability and validity and is valid for collecting data from the respondents.

STATISTICAL METHODS:
Data were analyzed using Excel and Spss: V23 for social sciences and some manual statistical methods.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION :
The first objective: was to identify the level of wheat farmers decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in the area of AL-Alam / Salah al-Din Governorate in general.
The results showed that the lowest value for farmers 'decisions was 34 and the highest value was 91 with an average of (71.42) and a standard deviation of 16.25 divided the respondents into three groups using the law of range, the highest percentage was within the high group, as shown in Table (2). The result in Table (2) showed that 52.9% of the respondents are in the categories of high decision making and they are the highest percentage of respondents followed by 32.9% within the group of intermediate decision-making, so the level of decision-making is described as high tending to the average, and the reason for this may be that the respondents are farmers, they attend the extension activities of their importance in making different agriculture decisions, as well as what related to the agricultural policies of agriculture that are compatible with the data of agricultural resources such as land and water, and this presence was clearly reflected in recent years on the constant increase of wheat production in the research area.
The second objective: to identify the level of wheat farmers 'decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities in each of the following areas of research:

The first field: the extension meetings
The results showed that the lowest value obtained by the respondents towards attending the indicative meeting was 14, and the highest value was 35 with an average mean of (28.74), and a standard deviation of (5.55). The respondents were divided into three categories using the Range law, and the highest percentage was within a high categories, as shown in Table (3): The total 70 100% SD=5.55 The result in Table (3) showed that 60% of the respondents are in the high decision-making group, which is the highest rate, followed by 31.4% within the intermediate decision-making group, so the level of farmers' decision-making towards attending the extension meeting is described as high tending to the average, This is because the farmers realize the importance of attending the extension meetings because they know very well that the extension meetings are held in order to present the seasonal agricultural plans, and what is related to them and the agricultural areas and the types of crops, and scientific recommendations that the farmers must apply in all stages of the wheat crop cultivation.

The second field: extension Symposiums
The results showed that the lowest value of the respondents towards the extension seminar 11 and the highest value of 33 with an average mean of (23.38), and a standard deviation of (5.71), The respondents divided into three categories using the Range law, and the highest percentage was within a high category, as shown in Table (  The results in Table (4) showed that 47.2% of the respondents are in the category of high decisionmaking, which is the highest percentage followed by 35.7% within the intermediate decisionmaking group, so the level of farmers' decision-making towards attending the extension seminar is described as high tending to the average, and the reason for this may be The respondents from the farmers look at the extension activities, including the extension seminars are always in their interest, whether in terms of making agricultural decisions or related to their lives and solving the problems facing them in the agricultural system in general.

The third field: The Extension field day:
The results showed that the lowest value for the respondents towards the day of the extension field was (10) and the highest value was 30 with an average mean of (19.30) and a standard deviation of (5.57), The respondents divided into three categories using the Range law, and the highest percentage was within a high category, as shown in Table (5):  (5) It is clear that 45.7% of the respondents are in the high decision-making group, and they are the highest percentage followed by 34.3% within the intermediate decision-making group, so the level of decision-making of farmers towards attending the field of indicative field is described as high tending to the average, and it may be because the researchers may realize to some extent the importance of the field day; because this activity is conducted in the process of informing farmers with modern techniques related to wheat crop cultivation, whether it is varieties or irrigation methods or modern machines and other various crop service operations.
The third objective: was to sort the search fields in descending order according to the percentage weight.
The results showed that the lowest value of the weighted average was 64.33 and the highest value was 79.83. The research fields were arranged according to the weighted average, and it appeared that the highest weighted average was for the extension activity, as shown in Table (6): The results from Table (6) showed that the extension meetings came in the first order with a weighted average of (79.83), and the reason may be that farmers prepare the extension meetings as an important activity of the agricultural extension systems, which is related to the agricultural aspects and the practical life practiced by farmers during the various agricultural activities, in the second order, the extension seminar came, and the reason for this is that the respondents understand the importance of the extension seminars, but not at the level of the importance of the extension meeting. As for the last arrangement, came the day of the extension field, and the reason for this may be that not all farmers seek to know modern agricultural techniques but rather they are traditional and maintain the existing agricultural system without renewing or using modern technologies, due to the limited culture they hold.
The fourth objective: Finding the correlation between the wheat cultivation decisions towards attending some agricultural extension activities and each of the following independent variables: (age, educational level, participation in extension activities, number of years of wheat crop farmers, sources of information related to extension activities, the trend towards extension activities).

Age:
The results showed that the lowest age of the respondents was 28 years, and the largest age was 65 years with an average of (40.23) years and a standard deviation was (9.92), and the respondents divided into three categories using the Range law, and the highest percentage was within a small group, as shown in Table (7): The results in Table (7) indicate that 60% of the respondents are in a small age categories, which is the highest percentage, and to find the correlation between decision-making and the age variable, Pearson correlation coefficient was using which its value was -0.30 and indicate a negative correlation between the two variables, according to P-value (0.01), as well as the calculated of t value ,when compared with the tabular value of t, so it rejects the research hypothesis and accepts the alternative hypothesis which states (there is a significant correlation between the two variables) and the reason for this may be that young farmers are the most aware group of the importance of attending extension activities, and taking decisions to attend in order to get acquainted with the agricultural technical and informational developments.

2-The educational level:
The variable was divided into seven groups for the educational level, and it appeared that the highest percentage was in farmers how had the primary school, as shown in Table (8):  (8) that 32.9% of the respondents are of primary school certificate . and they are the highest percentage. To find the correlation between decision-making and the educational level variable, the Spearman Rank correlation coefficient was using (0.35), and indicate a positive relationship between the two variables according to P-Value = 0.003 as well as the value of t calculated when compared with the value of the tabular t. Therefore, the research hypothesis is rejected and it accepts the alternative hypothesis which states (there is a significant correlation between the two variables) and the reason for this may be that the higher the educational level of the researcher, the more he realizes and understands the importance of attending agricultural extension activities.

3-Participation in extension activities:
The variable was divided into two categories, participants and non-participants in the extension activities, and it appeared that the highest percentage of the subjects are participants in the extension activities, as shown in Table (9). The results in Table (9) reviews that 77.1% of the respondents participate in the extension activities, and to find the correlation between decision-making and the participation variable, Spearman Rank correlation coefficient of 0.40 was using, and indicate a positive correlation between the two variables according to the P-Value = 0.003 as well as the calculated value of t when compared with the tabular value t , Therefore, the research hypothesis rejects and accepts the alternative hypothesis which states (there is a significant correlation between the two variables), and the reason for this may be that the respondents participating in the extension activities have realized the importance of these activities in relation to productive activities and agricultural decisions taken annually As appropriate with the abundance of natural resources and; therefore they are more eager to make decisions to attend extension activities than others.

4-Number Years of wheat cultivation:
The results showed that the lowest number of years was 10 years, the most number was 39 years, with an average of (22.03) years, and a standard deviation of (8.55). The subjects were divided into three categories using the Range law, and the highest percentage was within a few years category, as shown in Table (10): The results of table (10) indicate that 58.6% of the respondents are in the a few years of cultivation categories, and they are the highest percentage. To find the correlation between decision-making and the number of years of wheat cultivation variable, Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.41 was using, and indicate a positive correlation between the two variables, according to P-Value = 0.000, as well as the calculated value of t when compared to the value of the tabular t , therefore the research hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis which states (there is a correlation relationship between the two variables) may be rejected, and the reason for this may be that the respondents who practice wheat cultivation for more years others will be more interested and eager to make decisions to attend extension activities than others.

5-Information sources related to activities:
The results showed that the lowest value for information sources is 13 and the largest value is 22 with an average of 18.01 years, and a standard deviation of 2.35, divided the respondents into three groups using the Range law, and the highest percentage was within the intermediate category, as shown in Table (  The results of Table (11) refers to that 42.9% of the respondents are in a within the medium categories to see the sources of information related to indicative activities and they are the highest proportion of the respondents and to find the correlation between decision-making and the variable of information sources Pearson correlation coefficient was using which is (0.31), and indicate a significance relationship between the two variables, according to the P-Value = 0.009, Likewise, the calculated value of t when compared to the value of the tabular t , so it rejects the research hypothesis and accepts the alternative hypothesis which states (there is a significant correlation between the two variables) and the reason for this may be that the respondents who look at multiple and varied sources of information are more interested, and aware of the importance of attending the extension activities, and with that they make decisions to attend.

6-The Attitude towards extension activities:
The results showed that the lowest value for attitude was 8 and the largest value was 23, with an average of (18.56), and a standard deviation of (9.92), and the respondents divided into three groups using the theoretical Range law, and the highest percentage was within a positive group, as shown in Table (  The Table (12) indicate that 44.3% of the respondents are in the positive attitude category, and they are the highest percentage. To find the correlation between decision-making and the direction variable, Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.53 was using, and indicate a positive correlation between the two variables, according to the value of P-Value = 0.000, as well as the calculated value of t when compared to the value of the tabular t , so the research hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis which states (there is a significant correlation between the two variables) may be rejected and the reason for this may be that the respondents with a positive attitude are more aware of taking decisions to attend extension activities than others.

CONCLUSIONS
1. The general level of decision-making to attend extension activities is high and tends to medium. From this it concludes that farmers are interested in attending extension activities to provide information regarding their productive agricultural work. 2. The results showed that the general level in all fields is high and tends to be medium. So we can concluded from this results that farmers are interested in all extension activities related to their agricultural work. 3. All the studied variables showed a positive correlation except for the age variable which was negative, so concluted from this that the respondents with their different independent variables are interested in attending the different extension activities.

RECOMMENDATIONS
a. The necessity for the agricultural extension workers concerned to implement extension activities for farmers to focus the content of extension activities on agricultural production, annual plans and modern technologies in the field of wheat crop cultivation and activate the methods and means of supporting the state for agricultural production. b. The necessity of attention of the extension system in the governorate, and the local extension units in the agricultural regions, implementing various extension activities in terms of the type of activity and its methods, and in terms of the types of agricultural crops grown in these areas and modern agricultural techniques. c. Taking into consideration the independent variables that have shown a strong correlation, with the need to focus on the youth groups when implementing the extension activities because they are more receptive and open to modern agricultural information and developments.