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Influence Of Information Sources On Farmers Knowledge And Usage Of Poultry Drugs In Edo And Delta States, Nigeria.
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For farmers to benefit from such technologies they must first have
access to them and learn how to effectively utilize them in their
farming systems and practices (Ariyo et al.2013).This is the
responsibility of agricultural extension agencies all over the world.
These extension agencies make use of different approaches ,means and
media in transferring improved agricultural technologies to farmers.
Mass media methods in agricultural information dissemination generally,
are useful in reaching a wide audience at a very fast rate. They are
useful sources of agricultural information to farmers and as well
constitute methods of notifying farmers of new developments and
emergencies. They could equally be important in stimulating farmers’
interest in new ideas and practices (Ani et al.1997). Common sources of
agricultural information sources that have been used are the extension
services, radio, television, magazines, newspaper and face to face
communication. According to Statrasts,(2004) this information sources is
seen as an institution or individuals that create or bring about
message and the characteristics of a good information source are
relevance, timelessness, accuracy, cost effectiveness reliability,
usability exhaustiveness and aggregation level. Lately research
institutions have embraced the modern sources of information such as
internet especially online database, journals and articles that have
made information more readily accessible, accurate and timely. These
modern sources have been used within research institutions and extension
service units but their effectiveness in availing information to
farmers have been criticized. It is thought that the modern sources of
information have social, education, economic, cultural and technical
constraints which limits their effectiveness in disseminating
agricultural information to farmers(Bashir,2008) It is important to
disseminate agricultural information to ensure farmers have adequate
knowledge and skills to address their needs and sustain production.
Research institutions have a responsibility of ensuring that the
information they disseminate is packaged in a way that makes it easy for
the end-users to understand and to use appropriate dissemination
channels that would make the information accessible to the end users
(farmers),(Ghobrial and Musa,2006). Hence, the information supply from
extension, research. Education and other sources has become managed by
agricultural organizations and especially disseminated to farmers so
that they can make better decisions to take advantages of market
opportunities and to manage continuous changes in their production
systems(Demiryurek,2010) According to Davin (1976) every individual
whether literate or non-literate needs information in order to make
decisions thus every sector of the population engaged in agriculture
needs information. The concept that information is the message has
different meanings in different contexts. Luciano Floridi (2010). Thus,
the concept of information becomes closely related to notions of
constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge,
meaning, understanding, mental stimuli, pattern, perception,
representation, and entropy. The role of communication boarder on it’s
effectiveness which is foundational to socio-economic and political
development of a nation. Adekunle and Ogoto (1994), asserted that
effective communication is a precondition for sustainable technology
transfer in agriculture; and the feed forward- feed back mechanisms
which are essential ingredients in the technology transfer process are
only made possible through communication process. A good communicator or
information source knows his audience, his wants, needs, message, the
effective channel of communication applicable to his audience, prepares
his information to be communicated carefully, speaks clearly, uses
simple languages that people understand and is aware of the limitation
of time. The credibility and technical competence of the communicator
(extension agent) will go a long way in people (farmers) putting their
trust in him as an authority of valid assertions and a reckoned officer.
Hence Torimiro and Akinyemiju (2008) opined that in order to maintain
good credibility extension agents need to have adequate knowledge and
skill in dealing with people, and that a message is not of no value
unease it is understood, accepted by the receiver and creates a
motivation to act. Ekumankma and Nwankwo (2002) observed the poor
exposure of farmers to appropriate agricultural information as one of
the major reasons for low yield recorded by many Nigerian farmers. This
have been of great concern to agricultural communicators,
administrators, and policy makers in the country over the years and
finds expression in the federal governments’ effort in initiating
different agricultural programmes including Agricultural Development
Programmes across the country in the last four decades. Uphoff (2000)
and Leeuwis (2004) accreting a new societal function for extension said
that emphasis/responsibilities have shifted from a function that
fostered knowledge and technology transfer between farmers and
researchers and among farmers themselves to include more complex tasks
of altering interdependencies and co-ordination between various actors,
in addition new challenges, problems and development- some of which
operate at a larger scale than before (e.g. ecological degradation,
globalization and knowledge society) that further complicate matters,
hence the issues extension is dealing with now are concerned more
broadly with rural resource management- resource in this context include
not only water, land, biological process and biophysical inputs, but
also human relations, forms of organizations, economic and legal
institutions, knowledge or skills.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]A nation’s capacity for industrialization and employment depends on her improvement in level of production enhanced by available information. This is necessary for promoting entrepreneurship in agricultural transformation agenda for food security and poverty alleviation in Nigeria. This study assessed the influence of information source on poultry farmers knowledge and usage of drugs in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to solicit response from 120 a ... Continue reading---
