Effectiveness of Different Agricultural Extension Methods in Providing Knowledge and Skills in Disease Prevention: A Case of Smallholder Poultry Production Systems in Dakhalia Governorate of Egypt

Abstract

The study identified the effectiveness of the Demonstration alone, the Meeting alone and the Pamphlet alone and All methods together on the poultry farmers' knowledge and skills levels. The Experimental research design was used in the current study. The study was carried out in Dakhalia Governorate of Egypt during the period from November 2012 to April 2013. One hundred and twenty poultry farmers were selected randomly in 10 districts of the governorate. The sample was categorized into (4) equal groups for providing extension recommendations by different extension methods in cooperation with extension poultry specialists in the districts studied. The first group was exposed to a Demonstration, the second group was exposed to a Meeting, the third group was exposed to a Pamphlet and finally last group was exposed to All methods together. The main findings of the study indicate that: the total average of poultry farmers' exposure level to information sources studied was moderate at 59.8%. In addition, The All Methods group had acquired the maximum knowledge and skills with the percentages of 55.8%, 48.3% respectively followed by the Demonstration method, the Meeting method and the Pamphlet method. It can be concluded that Demonstration, Meeting and Pamphlet could be rich communication tools on their own, but when combined with others, can create a more effective training/learning experience.