Assessment of Mass Media Communication in Extension Service Delivery in Danbatta Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria
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Journal of Agricultural Economics, Environment and Social Sciences 6(1):23 – 31 June, 2020 Copy Right © 2015. Printed in Nigeria. All rights of reproduction in any form is reserved. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria Available on line: http://www.jaeess.com.ng ISSN: 2476 – 8423 Assessment of Mass Media Communication in Extension Service Delivery in Danbatta Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria *Ibrahim, U. S1; Danguguwa, D. D.2; Ahmad, S. S1 and Ibrahim H.1 1Department of Agricultural Extension and Management, Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta, Kano State, Nigeria. 2Department of Animal Health and Husbandry, Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta, Kano State, Nigeria. ABSTRACT The study was conducted in Dambatta Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria to assess the use of mass media communication in extension service delivery. Multi stage sampling procedure was used. Data was collected from 105 randomly selected farmers through the use of structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics involving frequency distribution, percentages and likert scale. The result revealed that majority of the respondents were males and married with mean age of 46 years, with N28, 114.29 average monthly income and mean household size of 10 members. Most of the respondents (37.10%) attended secondary school, average farming experience among them was 20 years. Major source of agricultural information found from the study were radio (94.20%), town criers (78.8%) and GSM (76.90%) with majority of the respondents utilizing radio” often”, GSM “sometimes” and town crier “most often”, while major problems against effective utilization of mass media in the study area were inadequate electricity supply, low income and low illiteracy status. The study recommends improvement on Power stability in the area, adequate and regular training and enlightenments to the farmers, designing and execution of appropriate infrastructural developmental projects as well as transmitting of programmes that suit the needs of target farmers of the area. Keywords: Mass media, Extension services, Dissemination, Information. INTRODUCTION Media has evolved as an effective form of communication in the contemporary world which has widely acknowledged catalytic impacts on the process of development (Javaid, 2017). Mass media refers to communication devices, which can be used to communicate and interact with a large number of audiences in different languages (Моckba, 2012). Be it the pictorial messages of the early ages, or the high-technology media that are available today, one thing that can be agreed upon, is that mass media is an inseparable part of our lives. Entertainment and media always go hand in hand, but in addition to entertainment, mass media also remained to be an effective means of communication, spreading information, and advertising, marketing, and in general, expressing and sharing views, opinions, and ideas (Моckba, 2012). Mass media methods in agricultural information dissemination are generally, useful in reaching large audience within a very short period of time. They are useful as sources of agricultural information to farmers and as well constitute methods of creating awareness to farmers of new innovations, agricultural information, developments and emergencies (Ariyo *Corresponding Author email: [email protected]; Tel: +234 Ibrahim et al. JAEESS 6(1) June, 2020 et al.; 2013). They could equally be important in stimulating farmers’ interest in new ideas and practices (Ani et al., 1997). Mass media are important in providing information towards enabling the rural community to make informed decision regarding their farming activities, especially in the rural areas of developing countries (Lwoga, 2010). Information, as we know is the key for success in the operation and management process of the agricultural activities. In developing countries, latest mass media have made their place for backing up agricultural sector through extension activities (Qamar, 2006). Mass media have the capacity to uplift the knowledge and have impact on farmers’ behavioral changes (Nazari and Hassan, 2011). The potency of modern electronic technology can be exploited for infotainment of farming community (Guenthner and Swan, 2011). The cost of extension advices through mass media comes to be considerably low as compared to individual and group methods (Oakley and Garforth, 1985). Agricultural extension, or agricultural advisory services, comprises the entire set of organizations that support people engaged in agricultural production and facilitate their efforts to solve problems; link to markets and other players in the agricultural value chain; and obtain information, skills, and technologies to improve their livelihoods (David, 2009). Agricultural extension is essentially a message delivery system organized to convey the latest findings of agricultural research to farmers. Effective communication is therefore, the prime requirement in extension work. Three classes of extension methods, namely individual contact, group contact and mass contact, accomplish the task of extension communication (Hussain, 1997). There are various Mass contact method used to promote advanced agricultural information and techniques to the farmers, such as, agri. newsletters, grey literature, hand bills and walls newspaper, posters, radio programs, television programmes (Yahaya, 2001). Mass media are used for mass contact for impersonal transmission of messages to large audiences. The most generalized and widely accepted classification of mass media which is used in actual practice is print media and electronic media (Nwachukwu, 2003). These include newspapers, newsletters, books, grey literature (brochures, bulletins, pamphlets, leaflets, hand bills and posters.) (Muntaqha, 2007). Electronic media include radio and television, which have transformed World into a ‘global village’. The electronic gadgetry of information technology like transistors, video tape recorders, mobile cinema vans and other audio-visual equipment like sound slide system, slides and film strips are also included as electronic media (Akangbe and Ojetayo, 2005). The potentials of mass media such as speed, mass coverage and low cost in the dissemination of information further necessitate their use in agriculture. It is against this backdrop that the study was under taken to assess the mass media communication in agricultural extension service delivery in Dambatta local government area of Kano state, specifically to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area, determine the extent of utilization of mass media as well as constraints militating against effective utilization of mass media in the study area as source of agricultural information. METHODOLOGY The study was conducted in Dambatta Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State. The LGA covered an area of 732 Square Kilometers (Km2), lies between latitudes 12o 14`49” N to 12o 36`7.4”N and longitude 8o29`5.7” E to 8o49`12’’ E. It is situated between Kano and Kazaure bordering Daura, enroute to Katsina State and bordered by Babura local government area of Jigawa state towards east. In the west it is bordered by Makoda Local Government and towards south bordered by Minjibir Local Government Area (Abbas et al., 2018). 24 Ibrahim et al. JAEESS 6(1) June, 2020 The climate of the area is tropical savanna. The natural vegetation of the area is the savanna type. Most of the region is contained within the Sudan savanna variety (Udeh, 2014) and characterized by wet and dry seasons. The dry season begins from November to February with cool and dry seasons, while the rainy season begins from May to end in September. Mean annual rainfall of the area falls around 800mm (Olofin, 1987) in (Abbas et al., 2018). The area has about 750 hectares of land. (KNARDA, 2008). Multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting respondents for this study. In the first stage; two (2) blocks were randomly selected (using ballot box procedure) from the four (4) blocks of the LGA which were Dambatta and Ajumawa Blocks. In the second stage, Mahuta and Saidawa villages from Dambatta block, Danya and Katsarduwa villages from Ajumawa block were again randomly selected (using same method) from each of the 2 blocks selected in the first stage. In the final stage, proportionate sampling procedure was used to select five percent (5%) of the farmers from the villages selected earlier which gave a total of 105 farmers as sample size used in the study. The data collected for this research include quantitative data that includes, socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, such as age gender, marital status, and monthly incomes etc, were collected from 105 respondents through the use of structured questionnaire with the help of trained enumerators for the study. Other data collected includes information on the extent of respondents’ utilization of mass media in the study area as well as problems militating against utilization of mass media in the study area. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics that include frequency distribution and percentage, mean, rating of extent of utilization for the analysis. Rating was done by means of ranking of the mass media utilization by the respondents on a scale of 1-3 with 1= frequently, 2= some times, 3= never. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Socio-economic Characteristics of the Farmers The result of the study depicts age composition of the respondents