Assessment of Farmers' Access to Agricultural Information on Selected Food Crops in Iddo District of Oyo State, Nigeria (original) (raw)
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The need to better the position of agricultural farm radio broadcast presupposes that it is evaluated continuously, hence, this study ascertained utilisation of agricultural information from Agbe afokosoro agricultural radio programme among crop farmers in Nigeria. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to randomly select 132 crop farmers. Data was collected on farmers' socioeconomic characteristics, access to, appropriateness and level of utilisation of agricultural information from the programme. Data was analysed using mean, standard deviation, chi square and correlation analysis at p=0.05. Results indicate that farmers' mean age and household size were 47.1± 10 years and 6 ± 3 persons respectively, were mostly male (64.4%) and had primary school education (35.6%). Crop farmers had adequate access to information on land preparation (=0.99), organic farming (=0.95), harvesting of crops (=0.98), and adjudged information from the broadcast as appropriate for their enterprise. Crop farmers utilised information on land preparation (=1.7), organic farming (=1.5), harvesting of crops (=1.6), integrated pest management techniques (=1.6) and site selection for crop production (=1.5). Respondents' income (r=0.0228) and farm enterprise (2 =0.069) were significantly related to their utilisation of agricultural information from the radio farm broadcast. It is concluded that the programme fulfilled the expectations of both the broadcast station and farmers as it was rated as accessible, appropriate and useful by farmers. Farmers' enterprise should be considered in future agenda of the radio farm broadcast.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2009
This study investigated the relationship between farmers' socioeconomic characteristics (independent variables) and utilization of extension information (dependent variable). A total of 125 respondents were purposively and randomly sampled from two Local Government areas of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The data received were decoded and analyzed with the aid of Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS). The socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents identified were; age, farmer's awareness, level of education, extension visits, access to radio, social participation and farm size. Pearson's correlation matrix results established positive and significant relationship between farmer's socioeconomic characteristics and utilization of extension information. Further result of Pearson's Step-wise linear regression analysis showed that farmers' awareness and access to radio were statistically significant at 5% probability level, having effects on utilization of extension information.
Nigerian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2011
Evaluation of the effectiveness of extension delivery channels used in disseminating agricultural practices/technologies to farmers in the Southwestern zone of Nigeria was the focus of this study. Emphasis was placed on identification of various extension delivery channels used by various agencies and institutions, and the effectiveness of each of the channels in imparting knowledge, skill and attitude to farmers. Structured, pretested and validated interview schedule were completed by 600 respondents selected through multi-stage random sampling techniques in Ogun and Osun States. Descriptive statistical techniques like frequency counts, mean, weighted mean score and percentages were used to analyze the data. Correlation was used to determine the relationship between the variables investigated in the study. The study shows positive and significant correlation between the effectiveness of extension delivery channels and level of education (r =0.29), income (r = 0.28), membership of association (r = 0.26), and farming experience (r = 0.21). Also, farmers' perceptions of the use of extension delivery channel in the study areas ranked very low showing the ineffectiveness of the delivery channels. The most effective extension delivery channels are other farmers (8.8), friends/relatives (8.54), radio (8.51) and extension agents (8.5). This paper therefore recommends that extension should play a more active role in helping farmers to get organized into functional organizations, including commodity groups, credit societies, cooperatives, and other types of farmer associations while using combination of different delivery channels to disseminate extension technologies to farmers. Media organizations particularly the public-owned should devout a certain amount of air time for agricultural extension (radio and TV) programmes.
Influence of Sources of Agricultural Information on Maize Farmers in Southern Borno, Nigeria
New media and mass communication, 2014
The study was conducted to assess the influence of sources of information on maize farmers’ in southern Borno, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to examine the socio-economic characteristics of farmers in the study area and to find out the sources through which agricultural information were made available to them in the study area. Data for the study were obtained from 360 respondents selected through multi-stage sampling procedure. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that 100.5% of the respondents sourced their agricultural information through extension agents, 58.08% sourced theirs through friends and neighbours, while 46.09% got their information through contact farmers. Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that for sustainable food security in the study area farmers should be targeted with relevant and timely agricultural information in order to boost their maize production capacity. Als...
Appropriateness of information is a critical factor needed to stimulate the right knowledge and attitude of farmers towards sustainable transformation of agriculture. The study investigated the information network that exists among rural communities in Akwa-Ibom States and its implication for effective extension delivery. Even though (AKADEP)Akwa-Ibom State Agricultural Development Programmes are highly involved in the dissemination process, it is important to analyze the information networks of the farmers to improve exchange of information with the following specific objectives; identify the different wealth groups in the study area, ascertain the information networks that exists in the area; analyze the different information types and assess the strength and weakness of the information sources. Data were generated through Focus Group Discussion and Participatory Observation, employing different methodologies like wealth ranking, information diagram and linkage matrix analysis using Likert's scale type. Data generated were analyzed with simple descriptive statistics and means. Major results show that in wealth ranking two groups of respondents were identified the female households with mean score between 1.9 and male headed household with mean score of 2.00 – 2.99. on information network farmer to farmer with 21%, market 14%, church 15% were highest source of their information network. On perceived weakness and strength of the information network, the information quality, frequency of use, timeliness of information flow, and link up of information were adequate while reliability of information was not adequate. The results show that intra community information flow was suitable and accessible to rich farmers while inaccessible and often irrelevant to poor farmers. Therefore, in the face of threat to food insecurity prevalent in the country, it is important to put in place a platform that will afford farmers to ask questions and get substantive responses, not only from extension agents but through appropriate channels within their information networks.
The study examined the level of access to agricultural technology information among rural farmers in Ido Local Government, Ibadan, Nigeria. Primary data were collected with the aid of pre-tested questionnaires and 100 respondents were selected through a two stage sampling procedure. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square was used to test the hypothesis.The result of the analyses indicated that (29.1%) falls within the active age bracket of 40-60years, more than half (61.6%) had no formal education, 70.9% were male and 68.6% were indigene of the study area. Majority(58.1%) of the respondents had a little information about weather and climate, 48.8% had no information about tillage while (50%) had a lot of information about weed control and fertilizer. Most of the farmers had little information about government related information (4.7%), market related (7%) and harvesting techniques(8.1%). 50% of the respondents in the study area strongly agreed that source of information is constraint in agricultural production while 3.5% strongly disagreed about the source of information being a constraint. The hypothesis test revealed that there is significant relationship between marital status (< 0.05), education level (< 0.05) and the level of access to agricultural information in the study area. Based on the result, the study recommends that information should be disseminated to the farmers in the language that they understand and also, adult education should be encouraged in the study area to keep farmers informed towards on agricultural production practices.
Farmers’ preferences for methods of receiving information on new or innovative farming practices
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Today, more than ever, a wide range of information sources on new or innovative farming practices is available to farmers. However, there is little evidence that the increased availability of information sources has been effectively used by farmers (Lionberger & Gwin, 1982). The value of information as a commodity in today's information age cannot be overemphasized since it has contributed immensely to the stagnation or progressiveness of many farming operations. In today's agricultural industry, survival often depends on having an edge on information related to the market, efficient allocation of available resources, and use of new or innovative farming practices (Fedale, 1987). Charges have been leveled against the Cooperative Extension Service, other change agents, and research centers, that much useful technology has been left sitting idle in research centers for lack of appropriate information dissemination strategies (Malton, Cantrell. King & Benoit-Cattin, 1984). Th...
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In Nigeria, as in many other countries, limited numbers of extension agents (one to 4,000 farmers) make it impossible to reach all farmers by interpersonal means. For this reason, radio and, more recently, television have been used by agricultural organizations to disseminate relevant agricultural information to larger numbers of farm families at minimal cost and to areas hitherto not accessible to extension agents on a regular basis. While prior studies have confirmed that these radio programs have large audiences, there has been less attention to the perceptions farmers hold about the specific benefits these programs proVide. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of two long-running Nigerian agricultural programs, one for radio and the second for TV, as perceived by 198 randomly selected farmers in Oyo State of southwest Nigeria. Results indicate a very positive assessment of both specific program components and the value of the two programs for improving agricu...
Constructing useful information for farmers – the role of IT
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The Internet will be of most use to cropping farmers when providers of agricultural information use it less like a library and more like an interactive field day. It is not its scarcity but the local contextualization of information that makes it valuable for farmers. The huge volume of information available on the Internet is of less value to farmers than the opportunities for interactivity with others that it provides to help make local sense of that information. There is a mismatch between current content aimed at farmers and the way that farmers make decisions. The high social and economic costs of Internet access mean that it must complement and supplement traditional low cost media if it is to be most useful. A comparison is made of rural Australia and rural Uganda: the constraints on Internet services and the need for cross-promotion and integration with other media. In both cases a positive policy environment has been vital to the successful development of rural Internet ser...
Modern Channels of Information used for Agriculture in Rural Farm Communities in Nigeria
the objectives of this paper are to: examine modern channels of information used for agriculture in rural farm communities in Nigeria; identify rural library as a media for improving agriculture in rural farm communities in Nigeria, and find out if lecture demonstration and shows improve innovation in agriculture. It is obvious from contributions of various authors that there are different methods of information acquisition and dissemination for rural dwellers. The channels of information communication that are currently used by various agents to disseminate information to rural dwellers are elitist and urban-centered. This, therefore tend to further and widen the information gap between the agents and the users. Only radio featured regular agricultural programmes and it was the most often used mass medium by the farmers. Television and newspapers were hardly accessible to and used by the farmers. Many farmers indicated television as the most preferred channel if it were available and accessible to them. The booster stations, have, unfortunately, gone moribund. They should be resuscitated. Community rural television stations should be established to feature special programmes targeted at rural farmers. Public television viewing and radio listening centers should be established to facilitate patronage of agricultural programmes featured by these mass media. Key words: customers’ service, marketing mix, marketing strategy, service marketing