Citrus farming in Algeria: Farmers’ behavior towards research and extension agenda

The objective of this paper was to assess the behavior of Algerian citrus farmers with respect to agricultural research under the current extension and research system. Surveys were conducted at technical institute, extension service, and among 75 randomly selected stratified citrus farmers using closed structured questionnaires in 5 selected municipalities in the Blida province. The results of farmlevel data analysis showed that identical management and farming practices in citrus farms resulted in variable production. The difference in production was found to be mainly due to the variety of citrus types planted. This fact, in addition to the socio-economic farmers’ constraints, suggests that the techniques adopted were non-profitable and highlights the failure of extension activities. At extension level, the socio-economic condition of the agents made them unable to fulfill their extension role. In addition, the agents’ lack of experience, training and specialization, financial resources and demonstration plots, hindered the implementation of the extension programs. Furthermore, the agents have no relationships with technical institutes or with agricultural research results. Work and experiments in the experimental stations of technical institutes that led to innovative results were not promoted. As consequences, farmers and sellers of agricultural products are still the primary sources of agricultural information. This first academic study conducted may contribute to implementing appropriate strategies and policies that achieve the development of more viable farming practices in the Algerian citrus orchards.