Abstract
The study examined the role of agricultural radio programs in the adoption of agricultural production technologies among farmers in Girei Local Government of Adamawa State. Primary data was used for the study and were collected from a random selection of 113 farmers in ten villages randomly selected for the study. The data were analyzed using both descriptive (frequency counts, percentages and means) and inferential statistics (multiple regression analysis). Results show that most of the respondents were male (69.9%), had some levels of formal education (61.1%) and with an average age of 34 years. Many of the respondents were aware of agricultural programs aired on radio in the area, especially agricultural programs aired on Gotel FM (80.5%) and Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation (63.7%). The common agricultural programmes aired on radio among others include producing marketing (89.4%), fish production (77.9%), poultry disease control (77.7%) and planting methods (70.8%). On the information needs of the farmers, the study identified mostly crop production-related information needs as the one most needed by the farmers. On the factors responsible for the adoption of agricultural technologies aired on radio, the study identified the age of the farmers (x1), education (x2), farm size (x5) and radio ownership (x10) as significantly influencing the adoption of agricultural production technologies aired on radio in the area. The study recommended the need for farmers to have some level of formal education to enable them to make better use of any technology aired on radio and that the radio stations should give more slots to agricultural programs so as to create awareness for farmers.
Highlights
The need for farmers to adopt agricultural innovation has been pursued with zeal by policy makers, government and research institutions due to the global effect of climate change
Listening to agricultural programmes on radio will be more among farming households than non-farming households especially if the programmes have the potential of raising productivity and household incomes
The study examined the role of agricultural radio programmes in the adoption of agricultural production technologies among farmers in Girei Local Government area of Adamawa State
Summary
The need for farmers to adopt agricultural innovation has been pursued with zeal by policy makers, government and research institutions due to the global effect of climate change. Mass media offer effective channels for communicating agricultural messages, which can increase knowledge and influence behavior of audience members.Various communication media are used in transmitting agricultural information to farmers Some of these include; farm magazine, leaflets, newsletters, newspapers, pamphlets, radio and television among others. Broadcast media as powerful communication tools have proved to be the most effective media in promoting agriculture and development in rural areas which is a tool for the delivery of quick information [8].Illiteracy is no barrier to radio messages since such messages can be passed in the audience’s own language It is probably because of these advantages that many media outfits accord high priority to radio programmes as a means of reaching farmers.
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