بررسي وضعيت و نقش ترويج و آموزش در مشاعهاي كشاورزي شهرستان بيرجند

A study of the role and current situation of agricultural extension and education in agricultural cooperative "Moshia" in Birjand Area

Agricultural extension & education has an important role in agricultural development. It is one of the vital part in each agricultural development project and program. The role of agricultural extension & education in the development of agricultural Moshia which is an special form of agricultural cooperative is also important. The main objective of this discriptive research is to identify the role and to analyse the current situation of agricultural extension & education in these Moshias which have been organized in Birjand area since 1359. From 48 Organized Moshia in this area, 37 Moshas which were active for three recent years, were selected. These Moshias have 567 members and 2(X) members or 35% were selected randomly for the study. In order to obtain the related information and data, two questioners were provided. One for each Moshia and another for every selected member. The results show that the average land ownership per-Moshia was 141.5 hectares and land per member was 9.15 hectars. The mean of the members age was 40.14 years, while illiteracy rate among them was 51% . Seven different government organization and departments have offered educational programs for the member of the Moshias. The kinds and the contents of the programs have been diffeent and the duration of the classes was from half of a day to 90 days. Group and mass methods of education was used and in the 16 Moshias there was a kind of farm-demonstration. Seventy percent of the members listened to the radio, but only 15% watched TV. According to the results about 70% of the educational programs have been useful and effective. In order to improve the traditional agricultural practices, which is still common in the Moshias, and a better use of scarce natural resources, the development of extension education programs is necessary and highly recommended.