THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTAL NEEDS OF RURAL FAMILY IN BEHEIRA GOVERNORATE

Abstract

The study aimed at identifyingrural family’ ssocial and economicdevelopmental needs and infrastructure developmental needs, and finally,to identify rural families’ suggestions to achieve these needs.The study was conducted in “Besntaway” and “Elziny” villages inAbohomos district, Beheira Governorate. Focus group discussions wereused to obtain the required information and a check list reflecting thestudy’s objectives was prepared. About 8 FGD were conducted from bothmen and women of the rural families, 4 FGD for each village and eachgroup included 10-12 persons, with a total number of 95 person (40 maleand 55 females) and data were collected in September 2013.The most important research findings were as follows:1- Social Developmental Needs:* The majority of the respondents indicated that the educational processquality is very low and they emphasized the importance of monitoringthe instructors and the educational process.* Participation in formal organizations and NGOs, was low in general andamong women in particular, and they expressed their need for supportfrom these organizations and to encourage them to participate and bepart of the decision-making process.* The respondents showed that they attended some extension symposiumsbut did not fulfil all their needs and they expressed their need to attendtraining courses. The needs for such training courses varied betweenmales and females, as men focused on the need to have extension fieldstraining, crop diseases, whereas women expressed their needs for ruraldevelopment training i.e. food processing, handcrafts, SMEs, beekeeping.* The majority of respondents referred to their inability to get all thenutrients elements that is necessary for their bodies, due to financialissues that prevent them from buying foods as a result of their highprices, besides they allocate most of their budgets to educate theirchildren. Therefore the respondents suggested to establish institutionsthat provide food for them, especially to poor families.* The results also revealed that the health unit, and hospitals does not havespecialized doctors, and those who practice are inefficient, besides their absence, lack of medical equipment and they required to solve all theseissues.2- The Economic Developmental Needs* The majority of respondents indicated the lack of employmentopportunities in the village due to fragmented agricultural landholdings,which led to internal migration of youth. As for women they lackappropriate jobs, especially within the traditions and customs thatprevent them from seeking job opportunities outside their villages.Though, they emphasized the importance of providing them by suitablejob opportunities to secure an income for them, besides providing socialsecurity for incapable families.* The majority of respondents showed that agriculture extension’s role isvery weak in the village, therefore they expressed the need to enhancethe role of agricultural cooperatives to provide inputs with suitable pricesand in time, subsidize agricultural pesticides, in addition to solvingfarmers problems, particularly irrigation.3- Infrastructure Developmental Needs* The respondents suffer from lack of water supply in their houses,polluted drinking water, electricity severance, and unpaved village roads.Thus, they emphasized on the importance of purifying drinking waterand taking deterrent measurements towards those who cause canalpollution.* The most important respondents’ suggestions were follows: allocationagricultural lands to young graduates, provide job opportunities to them,to establish agricultural and nonagricultural productive projects, solvefarmers’ problems regarding irrigation, besides providing continuousawareness to women to overcome social and cultural constraints thatprevent their participation in the development process within theircommunities, in addition to providing training in rural development,establishing projects for recycling farm and house residues, improvementof the educational process, provide the social -health insurance forfamily members, and finally, to have institutions that provide food forthe poor.