Effectiveness of Traditional Communication Media Used in the Dissemination of Agricultural Information among Farmers in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. The aim was to find out the effectiveness of Traditional Communication Media used in the dissemination of agricultural information among farmers. The following objectives were used for the study, to: examine the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers in the study area, ascertain the various commonly used traditional communication media (TCM) in the study area and determine the perceived effectiveness by farmers of these TCM in the dissemination of agricultural information. The hypothesis tested was to establish if there is relationship between farmers' perceived effectiveness of TCM in the dissemination of agricultural information and their socio- economic characteristics. Out of nine communities, five were selected. A sample of sixteen farmers was randomly selected from each of the five communities resulting in a sample size of eighty farmers. Interview schedule was use in eliciting information from farmers. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared were used to analyse the data collected. The result showed that 58.8% of the farmers were male, 64.9% were between 36 and 50years, 63.7% were married, 78.7% were Christians and as many as 22% had tertiary education. The most commonly used TCMs for agricultural message dissemination were cooperatives (45%), friends and neighbours (18.7%) and relations (15%). The farmers perceived town criers (56%), community elders (38%), cooperatives (36%), friends and relations (31%) and discussion groups (30%) as the very effective TCMs. The test of hypothesis showed significant relationship between age, marital status, educational level and religion with farmers' perception of effectiveness of TCMs. From the findings of this  study it is necessary that TCMs especially town criers, friends and neighbours, community elders and cooperatives should be integrated into innovation delivery system to facilitate quick dissemination and diffusion of agricultural innovations as this will increase the effectiveness of extension service delivery in the study area.