-
Influence Of Information Sources On Farmers Knowledge And Usage Of Poultry Drugs
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 3 of 4
-
-
-
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. Leeuwis (2004)
observed that communication intervention which is seen as different
communication services since they essentially define kinds of products
that can be delivered by communication workers and at the same time seen
as different strategies because they refer also to the way in which
communication intervention is supposed to contribute to societal problem
solving. Depending on one’s analysis of the problem, one may decide
that improving a specific type of service is an appropriate strategy
towards improving the situation. Leeuwis (2004) further opined that the
term farm management communication is general communication function
which can be relevant within different communication services and
strategies include: raising awareness; consciousness of predefined
issues; exploring views and issues; information provision and training,
with corresponding roles of communication workers to include; providing
(confrontational) feedback; raising questions; stimulating people to
talk (active listening, active learning); translating and structuring
information; and educators/trainers. Hence, effective communication can
improve farmers’ value for adoption of proven technologies. Feedback is
a critical component of effective communication(Witzany,G 2012).This
farmers knowledge on the usage of poultry drugs is either lagging behind
in Nigeria or it is not put into practice maximally(UNIDO,CBN,2010)
1.2PROBLEM
STATEMENT Agriculture, which is production oriented is a field that is
always in need of right information and at the right
time.(Dileepkumar,2013),this means that both crop and livestock farmers
should always be linked to the right information needed in the
production process by adequate information sources. Agricultural
information can also be seen as an important factor which interacts with
the other production factors such as land, labour, managerial ability,
the productivity of these other factors can arguably be improved by the
relevant, reliable and useful information and knowledge (Demiryurek,
2010). The problem to lack of or minimal use of drugs observed in
poultry production in Nigeria could be linked to information
technologies and information sources (information revolution) affecting
competitiveness (Porter and Miller,1985).Part of the reason why farmers
do not engage in the usage of poultry drugs is that, historically the
extension services has been focused on improving production and
productivity (Gebremedhi et al,2006) and abandoned the farmers after the
harvest. This is why various stakeholders of agriculture need to
critically analyse the information sources that are available and
accessible to poultry production and also the information needs of the
farmers, the structure of the organisations involved in these activities
are issues that need to be explored generally(Demiryurek et al,2008) in
poultry production specifically. The problem of the usage of poultry
drugs is a great one and emphasis on it cannot be too much at this time
when the nations’ agriculture is undergoing transformation in the
Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) in the economy of this nation.
The rural/village poultry system in Nigeria typically lacks access to
organized health inputs. The structure of the rural poultry production
system has constrained attempts to institute health extension services.
Small flock size, mixed age and species flock composition, improper
housing, scavenging, among other factors have made the use of
conventional schedule-oriented health inputs like medication and
vaccination difficult.(Kolawole, 2001).
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 3 of 4
-
-
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---
