Effectiveness of radio in dissemination of agricultural information to farmers in rural settings of Nigeria

Abstract

The use of radio for the purpose of gathering and disseminating agricultural information was investigated among 120 farmers who were purposively and randomly selected in two village settings. The three objectives of the study were; (1) to identify the agricultural technologies /recommendations which rural farmers used with the help of radio; (2) to assess the frequency by rural farmers' access radio in getting extension information; and (3) to assess the frequency by which the rural farmer listening to some radio programmes produced on farm practices in their vernacular. Results showed that the respondents used to source , on moderate level (averagely), information on the following technologies/recommendations on improved maize, from radio; improved maize varieties, seed rate, seed dressing, plant spacing, fertilizer application, post-harvest processing and storage. Further findings revealed that the majority of the farmers 60 (50%) had access to radio daily, 58 (48.33 %) weekly and the majority of the respondents ranked first in frequently listening to radio programmes with extension messages, in their vernacular.

Keywords: radio, rural farmers, extension, information, improved maize

Global Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 4(1&2) 2005: 33-36