Investigating the gap between existing and required professional competencies of agricultural extension agents in Iran
Subject Areas :
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Keywords: Program development competencies, Program evaluation competencies, Program implementation competencies, General and administrative skills, Technical and specialized knowledge of agriculture,
Abstract :
For the agricultural sector to be developed, it is necessary to have a capable extension system. Literature review showed the absence of a comprehensive research in the field that considers all the competencies required by an agricultural agent to reach to an optimum level of efficiency in his/her duties. For investigating around the issue and extracting the real professional training needs of extension agents, a survey research method applied through which 488 respondents out of 10000 agricultural extension agents were randomly selected across the country and Mann-Whitney test applied to analyze the variables. According to results, most extension agents have employed while they have educated in the majors other than agricultural extension so, for enhancing the system, practical competencies are not solely enough. For a better performance, extension practitioners should be qualified with sufficient amount of theoretical knowledge too. (Combination of theory and practice). In terms of familiarity with professional competencies, agents had relatively good knowledge in agricultural sciences, conducting and directing needs assessment, organizing farm days, prioritizing needs and deficiencies, and organizing the observations of participants. However, technical knowledge in fisheries, conducting brainstorming, developing CBOs (Community-based organizations) and conflict management were the fields in which the extension agents had minimum knowledge.
