RADIO AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMMES AS A TOOL FOR INFORMATION DISSEMINATION AMONG FISH FARMERS IN EGBEDORE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

The study examined the radio agricultural programmes as a tool for information dissemination among fish farmers in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria. The study further highlighted the level of awareness of the respondents on radio agricultural programmes and assesses the disposition of the respondents towards radio agricultural programmes. To achieve this, eighty (80) respondents were randomly selected and interview with the aid of well-structured validated interview schedule. The data were analyzed using both descriptive statistics (Chi-square). There was significant relationship with; contact with extension agents and source of information. There was also significant relationship between the selected socio-economic characteristics and influence of radio agricultural programme. The main objective of the study is to ascertain the use of radio agricultural programmes as a tool for information dissemination among fish farmers in Egbedore Local Government Area. The specific objectives are to identify the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area, identify the level of awareness of the respondents about radio agricultural programmes, assess the disposition of the respondents towards radio agricultural programmes and examine the constrains militating against the utilization of radio agricultural programs in the study area. The summary of the results indicate that 38.7% of the respondents falls within the age range of 31 - 40 years and only about 15.0% of the respondents of them were 51 years and above respectively. This implies that the most of the farmers are very active and agile to cope with the farming activities and become more productive, nearly 78.7% fish farmers in the study area were male farmers. Also about 51.2% of them were married while 12.5% were divorced, 60% of the respondents in the study were Christian. 13.7% of the respondent had no formal education, 12.5% attended primary schools and 13.3% attended secondary schools while 42.5% had tertiary education. A larger percentage 66.3% had a household size between less than 5 family members while 17.5% had between 5-6 household and 16.2% had more than 7 and above members, the result shows that 36.2% of the respondents have less than 5 years of farming experience, 26.3% of the respondents have between 5 - 10 years of farming experience, 13.7% of the respondents have 8 -10 years of farming experience and 23.8% of the respondents have 11 years and above farming experience. The mean year of farming experience is 7.63 years. 33.7% of the respondents obtained their information through radio while 17.5% depend on extension agent as their source of information. About 40% of the respondents depend on their fellow fish farmers and 8.8% of the respondents obtained information through television. The result indicates that 62.5% majority of the respondents have access to extension agents while about 37.5% of the respondents do not have contact with extension agents. 92.5% of the fish farmers have access to radio-set while only 7.5% of the respondents do not have access to radio-set. From the data collected it was revealed that 32.5% of the respondents in the study area frequently listen to radio, 30.0% of them occasional listen to radio program while 37.5% of the respondents rarely listen to radio. Further analysis reveals that age, sex, level of education, source of credit, farm size, farming experience, membership of social organization, contact with extension agents, and source of information of the respondents was significantly related to their need of radio agricultural programmes. Similarly it was discovered that religion, marital status, household size and annual income were not significantly related to the need of radio agricultural programmes as a tool for information dissemination.