The Use of Information and Communication Technology by Female Agricultural Extension Agents in Extension Work in The El-Beheira and El-Gharbia Governorate

The research aimed to identify the types of information and communication technology that are used in extension work, as well as to identify the level of respondents use of information and communication technology in extension work, and also to identify the relative importance of the most important purposes and areas of use of information and communication technology in extension work, and finally to identify the obstacles to its use and the most important suggestions of the respondents to overcome it. To achieve the objectives of the research, a comprehensive study was conducted of Female Agricultural extension agents in the El-Beheira and El- Gharbia governorates, which numbered 123 respondents, including 96 and 27 Female Agricultural extension agent, respectively. The data for this research were collected through personal interview using a questionnaire. Frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and weight mean were used to analyze the data of this research. The results showed the following:1-Whats App, the Google search engine, YouTube, and Facebook are the most important social media tools used in counseling work.2-It was also found that the level of use of social media, websites and electronic applications was 54.5% and 86.2% for each of them, respectively. 3-It was found that the most important purpose of using information and communication technology is to obtain agricultural information, and the most important areas in which it is used are poultry care and rising, and nutritional awareness. 4- The results indicated that there are some obstacles to the use of information and communication technology in extension work, including human obstacles, the most important of which is the lack of knowledge and experience related to computers, and financial obstacles, the most important of which is that there are no financial resources to purchase modern computers, and technical obstacles, including the lack of infrastructure. The necessary infrastructure and administrative obstacles, including the lack of communication devices for training on them.5-The most important suggestions of the respondents to overcome the obstacles to the use of information and communication technology in extension work were providing the infrastructure by 61% of the respondents, 56.1% of respondents suggested providing electronic devices and 46.3% of them suggested providing a financial incentive for Female Agricultural extension agents.