The Perception Level of The Agricultural Employees to Sustainable Agricultural Development Concept: A Case Study In The Sulaimani Governorate

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the perception level of agricultural employees to the concept of Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Sulaimani Governorate, determining the level of their perception towards it’s fields of (Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Development) according to its dimensions social, environmental and economic dimension, also determining the correlation between the perception level of agricultural employees to the concept of sustainable agricultural development and some of the personal and functional variables. The study population included all of the agricultural employees who work in agriculture directorate of Sulaimani and affiliated agricultural departments in all districts of Sulaimani governorate, where totaling (2778) agricultural employees. A stratified proportional random sample was selected of them with the percentage (10%) in all the agricultural sections and departments, thus the sample size became (278) agricultural employees. Study results showed that the perception levels of agricultural employees to the concept of sustainable agricultural development in general were medium tends to rise, the percentage of respondents within the medium and high categories reaching nearly (97%), results also showed that the (60.8%) of the respondents have a medium level of perception to the concept of sustainable agriculture. The results of the study also showed that there was a significant correlation between the perception levels of agricultural employees to the concept of Sustainable Agricultural Development and each of the following variables: age, specialization, duration of employment service, Socialization, location of job, exposure to sources of information related to sustainable agricultural development, attitude towards sustainable agricultural development). Whilst there was no significant correlation between the perceptions level of agricultural employees to the concept of sustainable agricultural development and each of the variables (gender, educational level, duration of agricultural extension service and previous developmental experiences).