Attitudes of maize farmers in kirkuk governorate towards silage industry

This study is aimed at studying the attitude of maize (Zea mays L.) towards the silage industry in Kirkuk governorate in a bid to determine the relationship between the attitude of maize farmers in Kirkuk governorate towards silage and some variables. The study included all maize farmers in the Kirkuk Governorate; the Hawija district includes large agricultural areas of maize farms, amounting to 9407 hectares for the year 2021. The number of farmers in the district is about 1938, of which 410 are maize farmers. A simple random sample representing 10,3% of the total farmers was selected for this study; so, the research sample is about 200 farmers. The employed research tool for this study is a list of questions about farmer qualities and a scale with 52 positive and negative phrases, with options (agree, neutral, disagree) and numerical values (3, 2, 1) for positive and negative clauses. The SPSS statistical program was used to analyze the data. At the end of the research, the results showed that most of the farmers had negative and neutral attitudes towards the silage industry, and the results also showed a significant correlation between the farmers' attitudes towards the silage industry and each of the variables (educational level, type of agricultural land tenure, method of marketing the crop, and participation in training courses). However, the study observed no significant correlation with the following variables: age, number of years of cultivation of the maize crop, the area planted with maize, and exposure to information sources on maize cultivation.