Availability, Preference and Constraints to Use of Information Sources among Crop Farmers in Abak Agricultural Zone of AkwaIbom State
Journal Title: Haya: The Saudi Journal of Life Sciences - Year 2018, Vol 3, Issue 5
Abstract
Abstract:The study investigated information sourcing situation surrounding crop farmers in Abak agricultural zone of AkwaIbom State, Nigeria. Specifically, effective and responsive media sources were mapped in terms of availability, preference and Constraints to use among crop farmers in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in the selection of respondents. Preferred Sources of Information Questionnaire (PSIQ) with reliability index of 0.84 was administered on 90 Crop farmers in the study area. Data were analysed through the use of descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that the dominant age bracket constituted 64.5% of the sampled population. About 81.1% of the respondents were male and 55.6 % were married. 15.5% attended higher institution and 57.7% acquired SSC. Majority (52.22%) had between 3-10 years of farming experience while 66.67 % took crop farming as their primary occupation. 95.6% of the respondents identified mobile phones as their major available source of information while 92.2% identified both television and radio as their available sources of information. Other major available sources of information were internet (91.1%), co-farmers (90%), and extension agent (82.2%). Crop farmers association and posters (50%) each were considered the least available sources of information. Television and mobile phones with a mean value of 1.8 each were the most preferred sources of information utilized by crop farmers in the study area, followed by extension agents (1.6), internet (1.6) and co farmers (1.5). The results across all the constraints portrayed that almost all the identified constraints (16 out of 19) had influence on the utilization of available sources of information by the respondents. Adequate training centers, access to ICTs centers and increased extension agent ratio should be put in place to ameliorate the severity of the constraints faced by the respondents in utilizing the available sources of information in the study area. Keywords: Availability, Preference, Constraints, Information, Utilization, Crop Farmers, Agricultural Zone.
Authors and Affiliations
Jemimah Timothy Ekanem, Emem Bassey Inyang
Keywords
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