THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDS OF VEGETABLE FARMERS IN THE FIELD OF USING ORGANIC FERTILIZERS IN THE VILLAGE OF QABER AL-ABD / HAMAM AL-ALIL/ DISTRICT/ IRAQ.

The research aimed to identify the social and economic characteristics of the respondents, in addition to determining the level of knowledge needs of vegetable farmers in the field of using the use of organic fertilizers in the village of Qaber Al Abd / Hamam Al-Alil/ district/ Iraq, the research tool was consisted of two parts. The first part included questions related to the respondents' personal information, including (age, educational level, type of ownership, number of years of work in agriculture, level of exposure to sources of information). As for the second part of the tool, it included 20 items to determine the knowledge needs of vegetable farmers in the field of using organic fertilizers. The results showed that 79% of responders have average needs and tend to be high age, educational level, and amount of years of agriculture all have an impact on the knowledge needs for using organic fertilizers. The variables of the type of ownership and the level of exposure to information sources are not those variables that affect the level of knowledge needs related to the use of organic fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]