Sarhad J. Agric. Vol.27, No.

3, 2011

OBSTACLES THAT LIMIT TEACHING AND APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN
EJAZ ASHRAF*, GARY B. JACKSON**, FASIH UR REHMAN*** and MUHAMMAD IDREES**** * ** *** **** University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Punjab Pakistan. School of Human Sciences, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Mississippi State University USA. Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology, Islamabad Pakistan Department of Extension Education & Communication, Agricultural University Peshawar Pakistan Email: ejazashraf60@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT The study was conducted in 2006. The purpose was to describe obstacles that limit teaching and applications of remote sensing for precision agriculture in Balochistan, Pakistan. Remote sensing is a significant decision making tool in research. Factors such as audience, teaching material, location and government funding were analyzed as obstacles in teaching of remote sensing. In addition, education level, facilities, major area of applications and government funding were analyzed as obstacles in applications of remote sensing. A simple random sample of 280 subjects was selected from the population of 1,028 agricultural officers for this study based on the table provided by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). Many of the respondents thought that audience, government funding, and education level were main obstacles for teaching and applications of remote sensing in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Frequencies and percentages were used to interpret the results of the study. Key Words: Agricultural officers, Precision Agriculture, Extension, Remote sensing, Balochistan, Pakistan Citation: Ashraf, E., G.B. Jackson, F. U. Rehman and M. Idrees. 2011. Obstacles that limit teaching and applications of remote sensing in agricultural extension educational programs in Balochistan, Pakistan. Sarhad J. Agric. 27(3): 499-502

INTRODUCTION
The extension services have a significant role in the transfer of technology, education and other benefits to the farm population. Latest research has brought a lot of changes in agricultural practices and techniques. It is the responsibility of the extension field staff to make farmers aware about the developments in agriculture sector. Van den Ban and Hawkins (1996) described the role of extension agents (in Pakistan called agricultural officers) is to help farmers and to make them for taking their own decisions based on ground realities through proper communication, trainings, education, and transfer of information and technology. Extension field staff must help farmers in developing their own strategies for assessing acute circumstances. It is also the responsibility of the extension agents/agricultural officers to empower farmers in dealing with the day-to-day problems and to act proactively to solve the emerging crises. These are all vital measures for precision agriculture in the future when resources are diminishing and world population is increasing constantly. Zhang and Maohua, (2000) described that precision agriculture (PA) research started in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe in the mid-to-late 1980s. Many factors influence the precision agriculture and soil assessment, but institutional support and technologies are particularly important. We are living in the information age, and the demands and needs of this era are changing so fast as compared to the past years. The time has come to adopt sustainable and precision agricultural practices on priority basis. Chizari et al. (1999) conducted a study for the perceptions of extension agents regarding sustainable agriculture in the Khorasan province, Iran. The results of the study revealed that young and less experienced agents tended to prefer sustainable over traditional agriculture practices. Keeping in view the future needs of the growing population, it is now the responsibility of the agriculturists to come up with new optimal technologies so that the end users could adopt these technologies. Since the input resources are diminishing day-by-day, therefore it is important that farmers should adapt those technologies which are essential for precision farming. Many countries in the world are successfully using spatial technologies for natural resources especially in agriculture. In particular, the evolution of geographic information systems (GIS), the global positioning system (GPS), and remote sensing (RS) technologies has enables the collection and analysis of field data in ways that were not possible before the advent of the computer (Ketherine, et al., 2005).

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Remote sensing has many applications for agriculture, such as classification of different crop varieties, yield estimation, estimating of soil characteristics, and soil management practices. Agricultural specialists interpret satellite images to reveal data regarding weed discrimination and the amount of water used by crops and natural vegetation. Satellite images also help to resolve the entomological issues in agriculture. In case of Pakistan, remote sensing is not well practiced in the field of natural resources and agriculture. There is limited use in forestry, urban planning, and resource management. The degree of its usage is at developmental stages. Remote sensing has not yet been fully explored or used in the government sector, especially in natural resources and agriculture. There is a lack of trained and informed extension staff for the implementation of remote sensing technology for precision agriculture in Pakistan. On the other hand, remote sensing has increasingly become a significant management and decision making tool in the development of precision agriculture in other parts of the world. The implementation of the remote sensing in agriculture and natural resources in Pakistan solely depends on competent extension workers and sound information and communication system among the agencies to provide extension services to their clientele. Moreover, the use of remote sensing technology requires continuous training and learning approaches, which also presents a huge challenge for extension staff in Pakistan. Therefore highlighting obstacles that limit the teaching and applications of remote sensing for precision agriculture in Balochistan-Pakistan is an important issue for research. Objective of the Study The sole objective of this study was to highlight the obstacles that limit teaching and applications of remote sensing for precision agricultural techniques used for soil assessment, horticultural, entomological and other farming related issues in Balochistan-Pakistan. MATERIALS AND METHODS Population and Sample The study was conducted in the province of Balochistan-Pakistan. The country is divided into four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, and Balochistan. Each province is also divided into districts. Agricultural officers work as trainers/educators for the farmers in each district in all the four provinces of Pakistan. Balochistan is the largest province of the country with respect to area and famous for different kinds of fruits and vegetables. A simple random sample of 280 subjects was selected from the population of 1,028 agricultural officers in the study under investigation based on the table provided by Krejcie and Morgan (1970). The selected sample was based on the list of the names of agricultural officers with jobs located across the province of Balochistan. Instrumentation and Data Analyses The survey questionnaire was used as the instrument for assessing agricultural officers obtained responses. The instrument was developed based on the topic under research, the literature review, and the ideas in instrument development by other researchers in the area of agricultural and extension education. Three choices such as little, some, and much were used in the instrument to show the nature and the extent of the hurdle. Data were collected in the province of Balochistan in August - September 2006 with the help of data collector. The data collector distributed the questionnaires through regular mail to all the 280 participants in the field in each of the districts. The participants were allowed two weeks to complete the questionnaire and to return the sealed envelopes to the data collector. To ensure the confidentiality, the participants were not required to write their names on the questionnaire. All necessary steps were taken to ensure the content and face validity of the instrument. Only properly sealed envelopes were considered as valid responses for analysis. Out of the 280 questionnaires that were distributed initially, 265 were returned completed and 255 were used for analyses. The response rate for the study was 91%. Follow up methods (telephone and reminders) were used and 15 questionnaires were received due to this technique. The overall response rate including late respondents was 96%. The sample size for analysis was n = 270. The data collector sent all the collected responses to the researcher via courier service to Mississippi State University for further analysis and interpretation of the study. The collected data were coded and entered into the computer for further analysis. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 15.0 was used for the analysis. Since the study was descriptive in nature rather than experimental, therefore descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions and percentages were used for description of the data obtained from the participants in the study.

Sarhad J. Agric. Vol.27, No.3, 2011 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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Seventy-one percent of the respondents indicated that the audience for whom the educational programs were designed was the main obstacle for teaching of RS Table I. Approximately 64% of the respondents indicated that government funding was the main obstacle for teaching of remote sensing in agricultural and extension educational programs for precision agriculture. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents indicated that teaching material played a significant role in teaching of RS. Fifty-three percent of the respondents indicated that up to some extent the location for teaching of remote sensing was important Table I.
Table I Frequency distribution of the opinion of the respondents for obstacles in teaching (N = 270) Little Some f % f % f Audience 1 0.37 77 28.52 192 Teaching Material 13 4.81 103 38.15 154 Location 94 34.82 144 53.33 32 Government Funding 17 6.30 81 30.00 172 Teaching Much

% 71.11 57.04 11.85 63.70

Seventy-eight percent of the respondents indicated that the educational level for both the audience and the agricultural officers (extension educationists) is the key for the applications of RS. Approximately 69% indicated that government funding is the main obstacle in the applications of the RS in agriculture. Fifty-six percent indicated that the amount of available facilities has significant impact on the applications of RS. Fifty-three percent reported that, up to some level, the major area of applications is important for applying RS Table II.
Table II Frequency distribution of the opinion of the respondents for obstacles in Applications (N = 270) Little Some Much f % f % f % Education Level 2 0.74 57 21.11 211 78.15 Facilities 15 5.55 103 38.15 152 56.30 Major Area 89 32.96 144 53.34 37 13.70 Government Funding 16 5.93 69 25.51 185 68.51 Application

It implies that one must know the importance and priority before using the remote sensing technology to any area in agriculture, e.g. if clientele want to learn how to use remote sensing in entomology to identify the cause of the crop damage due to a certain disease, the extension educationists need to plan an educational program in this major area on a priority basis. Many of the agricultural officers had the opinion that audience, government funding, and teaching material were the main obstacles for the teaching of this relatively new technology in the province of Balochsitan. It is important to understand that the audiences for whom educational programs are designed are vital both in teaching and applications of remote sensing. Similarly, when asked for their opinions about the issues related to the applications of the remote sensing technology, respondents explained that the educational level for both the audiences and for the agricultural officers are the keys for proper dissemination of this technology. These findings indicate that teaching and applications of remote sensing technology in any area, including precision agriculture, have many obstacles in the province of Balochistan. The major obstacle that emerges on the basis of the opinions of the respondents is the role of the government in making funding decisions. In the similar research findings, Alshehri (2005) assessed faculty attitudes towards the significant factors for facilitating the implementation of online courses at the institute of public administration in Saudi Arabia. He highlighted the obstacles such as lack of knowledge and skills, lack of administrative and technical support, and incentives that limit the implementation of online courses at educational institutions. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The teaching and applications of remote sensing for the end-users should be conducted through the extension educational programs, with the collaboration of other research organizations in the area that have expertise and human resources in all specific concepts of remote sensing and its allied technologies for precision agriculture. Agricultural officers described their opinions about the obstacles and hurdles in teaching and applications of remote sensing. It was highlighted in view of their opinions that while designing any educational program the organizers and administrators must consider the audience for whom the educational program has been designed, the instructors and audiences educational level, access to the high-level published material, available facilities for teaching remote sensing, and above all, government support and funds. It is highly recommended that the

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government allocate sufficient funds for the promotion of the remote sensing technology for precision agriculture and soil analysis. In addition, more money must be allocated for purchasing new equipment and establishing laboratories for promotion of this technology in Balochistan. No educational program will be successful unless the administrators provide all necessary tools and funds for the program. More research should be conducted on this important technology to highlight the potential areas in agriculture and natural resources where remote sensing could be applied. Following are the few specific recommendations for teaching and applications of remote sensing and its allied technologies in agriculture and natural resources: Courses related to spatial technologies must be included in educational programs at graduate level. New laboratories and experimental stations need to be established across the country for the use of remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS). Above all, the financial and skillful human resources need to be diverted toward the teaching and applications of remote sensing for the promotion of precision agriculture in the arid zones like Balochistan.

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