BUILDING A SCALE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PRACTICES IN THE EGYPTIAN DESERTS

Diab, Hend M.; Diab, Ahmed M.

doi:10.21608/ejdr.2015.5958

BUILDING A SCALE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PRACTICES IN THE EGYPTIAN DESERTS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hend M. Diab ¹
Ahmed M. Diab ²

¹ Department of Rural Sociology and Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

² Department of Rural Sociology and Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, The New Valley Branch, Egypt,

10.21608/ejdr.2015.5958

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to design a scale for practices of sustainable agriculture in deserts of Egypt with acceptable reliability and validity measures. After reviewing of literatures regarding sustainable agriculture and management of natural resources, four main areas were determined to be the components of the proposed scale as follows: sustainable management of plant resources, land resources, water resources and animal resources. Fifty statements were drawn from review of literature. These statements were decreased to be 38 statements through face validity stage. In order to accomplish the study objective, New Valley governorate was selected to represent the desert governorates of Egypt. Five villages were selected randomly to represent the five administrative districts of the governorate. Within each of those villages, a random sample was selected, and the total sample was 100 respondents. Data were collected through personal interviews using a pre-tested questionnaire form during September and October 2015. Percentages, average, standard deviation, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, analysis of variance test, and reliability and validity analysis tests were used for data presentation. Reliability coefficient (Cronbach's Alpha) was about 0.8775, intrinsic validity coefficient was 0.9367 and statistical validity coefficient was 0.9737. By testing the internal validation using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, the final version of the scale contains 31 statements divided between the four components of the scale.

Keywords

Main Subjects