Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Agricultural Extension Workers in the Central Region of the Syrian Arab Republic

Abstract

The study was conducted in the central region of the Syrian Arab Republic (Homs and Hama). The aim of this study was to study the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by agricultural extension workers through a random sample of 132 agricultural agronomist, veterinarians and agricultural and veterinary technicians. The research findings show that, 95.5% of respondents have a mobile phone (82.5% of the modern model), and 72.7% of them have a computer of both laptop and desktop. It was revealed that, more than three-quarters of the sample had an Internet service at home, but more than two-thirds of the sample did not have this service in their workplace, although three quarters of the sample had a medium level on the use of ICTs.In measuring the use of ICT by agricultural extension workers it was found that 47% of them had medium level of used and 50% relied heavily on it as a source of information.WhatsApp was one of the most popular social networking programs used by Agricultural extension in all field.