MASS MEDIA AS TOOLS FOR ENHANCING FARMERS PRODUCTIVITY – A STUDY OF THE RADIO

Abstract  

This study was on mass media as tool for enhancing farmers productivity. Two objectives were raised which included: to identify the topics on agricultural radio program presented by Radio,  to find out the level of access of households to the agricultural radio program, to determine farmers’ perception of the content of the farm program aired by the FM and to examine the level of adoption of the farm information received. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected radio station in Ondo state. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).

 Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

Development, be it measured in terms of increases in farmers’ productivity, improved education of children, decreased birthrates, the use of more nutritious foods, and so on, can be said to be a result of effective communication (Roling & Ascroft, 1971: Page 1). It is then through communication that new productivity-generating ideas spread, that people get mobilized and organized to achieve a common purpose, that a nation becomes welded together and unified. Communication for development for a long time has been seen as not producing the development that had been promised. This was because too often, information was being thrown at problems that were defined by lack of resources, and not lack of knowledge (Hornick, 1988). One of the major causes of relative failure or serious lag in development projects as noted by Childers & Vajrathon (1969) may also be traced to deficient means of intensive information – communication to the communities and other definable groups whose decisions, attitudinal changes, and innovation-adoptions are crucial. Abidi (1991) in his introduction to communication, Information and Development observes that in Africa, we are engaged in a serious struggle for development. We have enormous amount of resources yet our efforts have not been able to reduce the gap between developed and the developing economies. Our projects have not succeeded in reaching the optimum level of achievement. We therefore have to seriously search for the reasons as to why we have not been able to utilize our resources appropriately and also our speed for development has not been as first as we wanted to see it. Agricultural development therefore has been much too slow in most of the developing countries Kenya included, for food production to keep pace with population growth. One reason for such lag has been the poor performance of extension agencies as well as lack of quality communication strategies in rural development (Ross 1969). In this light, Crouch & Chamala (1981: Page 15) expressed that it is not lack of technologies and scientific discourses however, that is needed for economic growth and rural change, but that of converting them into production accomplishments, and then using them as an instrument of economic growth and social change. The absence of functional agricultural information delivery system has therefore been identified as a major constraint to agricultural development in least developed and developing countries grapple with insufficient personnel and funding of agricultural extension services (Aina, 1989). As explained by Crouch & Chamala (1981: Page 15), such a conversion of new technologies and scientific discourses would depend to a great extent on the speed with which they are transferred from its source to the ultimate unit of its utilization so that the peasant user clearly understands, accepts and supplies it in their day-to-day practices. This, in turn, demands a suitable and effective communication strategy that will involve the masses to participate in the development issues affecting their lives which later contributes to national development.

Agricultural information is a critical ingredient to improving small-scale agricultural production especially among peasant farmers. This will consequently lead to improved rural livelihoods, food security and national economies. Improvement of agricultural productivity will be realized when farmers are linked to Agricultural information about farm inputs, markets to their produce etc (Rogaly, et al, 1999). In many rural regions, however, the farmers and small entrepreneurs are consistently incapacitated by lack of price information on prevailing market prices before they travel or if they don’t travel to the market. This is due to poor communication facilities and more often rely on middlemen who take advantage to exploit them. Kenya’s approach to agricultural and rural development is enshrined in its modernization of agriculture plan, which calls for a shift from traditional agriculture to a technologically based scope to ensure food security (Nakabugu, 1999). The challenge experienced in achieving this goal centrally lies in its communication strategy as a denominator to cause change. This calls for communication approaches that target and involve the rural communities since they depend on Agriculture for their livelihood (Abidi 1991; Crouch & Chamala 1981; Rogers 1969). A large number of innovations in farming as well as other areas are being released and commercialized to the rural people particularly the farmers, by different communicators and through a variety of channels. But the effects of such communications have not been quite as pronounced as one might expect (Crouch & Chamala, 1981: Page 15). This is evidenced by the rural people’s generally inadequate knowledge, understanding, skills and sometimes negative attitude relating to change. Many subsistence farmers therefore, are not reached with information believed to be of value to them (Hornik 1988). This makes them either to delay or take no action at all with regard to the suggested innovation. It is therefore evident that development implies change, and the first change that takes place is the attitude of the people who will be directly affected by the development in this case, the subsistence farmers and the rural communities. In order to achieve this goal, there must be a fundamental change in the way farmers approach agriculture and the rate at which they adapt new technologies in health and education, husbandry and farming practices (Rogers 1969). In order to achieve this change, rural communities need to be informed on the importance of adapting these new practices. Farmers need to be informed and educated about improved agricultural practices in order to enable them increase agricultural productivity and by this, increase both household and national incomes (Van den Ban & Hawkins, 1992). Attempts by extension service although through demonstration farms and working with communities (Hornik 1988), have not been sufficient to bring about change in attitudes among the Nigeria  rural farmers. This is because of the approach as well as the language used in reaching the rural farmers. Many experts therefore have over the years identified radio as the only medium of mass communication popular among the low-income population (Jamison & McAnany 1978). This may be attributed to the various advantages it bears including; its population relative affordable, coverage of wide geographical areas, language of broadcast, etc. (Kuponiyi, 2000). Hornik (1988); Jamison & McAnany (1978); indicate that radio has become a channel that has been successfully used to disseminate agricultural information especially to rural population and also to complement the efforts of the extension workers, thus, makes it the best media for this purpose.

The increasing number of radio sets and radio stations in developing countries indicates that radio broadcasting can play a strong role in rural development. The effectiveness of this medium can be further enhanced if radio stations are localized and geared to programming that meets the specific interests and needs of their “special audiences” (Gomez 1970: Page 91). However, radio cannot be singly used to reach rural farmers. As (Jamison & McAnany 1978; Rogers 1983; Hornik 1988) put it, projects that depend on a single medium to reach their audiences may find that some parts of the audience is inaccessible, does not understand, nor use the medium as a stimulus for practice change. Therefore, there is need to use multiple channels since they have a higher probability of success, both because different channels serve different needs (Roling & Ascroft 1971; Rogers & Shoemaker 1971). In explaining Diffusion model, (Rogers & Shoemaker 1971: Page 266) and (Hornik 1988: Page 18), noted that in the knowledge stage, as individuals become aware of an innovation, they rely on mass media such as radio; and as they move toward a decision, they tend to rely on personal sources such as extension services, farm group discussions etc. (Roling & Ascroft 1971: Page 16). Agricultural information dissemination therefore is an important aspect in quest to improve agricultural productivity both in Africa and specifically Nigeria, and several channels have been used for this purpose. They include; Extension Officers, Pamphlets, field days, Newspapers, TV, Radio and many more (Van den Ban & Hawkins, 1992; Olowu & Oyedokun, 2000). Vernacular radio broadcasting becomes ideally best placed to provide this kind of information to its listeners, especially subsistence farmers because majority of them live in rural areas, practice agriculture as a source of livelihood, and might not have an in-depth understanding of English that have been recognized and used in the public domain

Statement of the problem

Millions of livelihoods in most of the Nigerian rural areas depend heavily on agriculture which is in small scale (Dey et al., 2008). Kakelo Location is primarily occupied by small-scale farmers whose main enterprise is majorly subsistence crops which serve as the main household food supply with the surplus of sweet potatoes being sold through complex and unfair marketing chains for income generation (Woomer et al., 1998). Consequently, farmers had been paying exorbitant prices for their farm produce since they repeatedly depended on middlemen who often take advantage of the situation to exploit them because of lack of market information. As a result, local farmers have suffered the effects of poor communication channels that have been used to reach them with the agricultural information on farm inputs such as fertilizers, certified seeds, weather conditions, market and other important information that are essential in farm productivity. This has led to decreased farm productivity and expansion of investment in agriculture in rural areas (Munyua, 2007). This situation has been so because such information has been disseminated by those FM radios using the national languages that are perceived by rural population as secondary and remote from their immediate needs and daily living, leading to a large section of the citizenry missing much of what is of their benefit (Orao 2009: Page 78). Insufficient extension services to reach the vast rural population and the current Government policy of demand-driven approach to reach farmers have impeded the transfer of technology at the farm level. A survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization in June, 2005, revealed that only 40% of farming households have access to information about modern farming technologies. Similarly, the cost of delivering information face-to-face in the public sector is very high. This crumbling extension network can be strengthened by the use of vernacular radio broadcasting in disseminating agricultural information to local farmers using the language they understand best. The role of agricultural information in farm productivity has been a major concern to rural development stakeholders. The Government through Agricultural sector has developed various Agricultural strategies with an aim of identifying agriculture as a means of livelihood and the key to food security and poverty reduction for most rural population. Despite the concerted efforts to implement these Agricultural strategies, productivity still continues to affect this sector. This is because the rural population contributing majorly to agricultural sector has become inaccessible with the relevant information they need, a concept that has not been factored in this National policies. Therefore, there is need to link rural farmers with the relevant agricultural information that would help them get a competitive range of market prices for their produce, and other related information about farm inputs and new farming methods which is possible through the use of vernacular radio broadcasting

Objective of the study

The specific objectives of the study included:

1. To identify the topics on agricultural radio program presented by Radio
2. To find out the level of access of households to the agricultural radio program
3. To determine farmers’ perception of the content of the farm program aired by the FM
4. To examine the level of adoption of the farm information received

Research hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated

H1: there are no topics on agricultural radio program presented by Radio

H2:  there is no level of access of households to the agricultural radio program

Significance of the study

 Nigeria continues to wrestle with different challenges of an economic, political, and social cultural nature. Economic challenges include among others, low production output especially in the agricultural sector, the backbone of the Nigerian economy. Economic production in rural areas such as those focusing on agriculture can be improved with reliable information among rural communities. This is because according to IFAD (2011), rural areas are the source of food for the nation with small-scale producers contributing to agricultural production. Majority of this population however, perceive those radio stations with national reach as being secondary and remote from their immediate needs and daily living, blocking a large section of the citizenry from what they require most. There is need therefore to keep rural communities informed of what is happening in and around them in order to adapt to varying situations affecting their farm productivity. Vernacular radio stations is well positioned to address this issue, as it would significantly contribute to the use of agricultural knowledge and technologies to improve agricultural productivity among its listeners.  Further, one notes that vernacular FM stations continue to pose considerable competition to FM stations using national languages in attracting the elusive advertising shilling. An analysis of the strengths of these stations is issues that are of interest to not only advertisers and media managers but also policy makers and regulators in the media industry. The finished product of this study will therefore provide an effective language management that will aim at harnessing and developing vernacular broadcasting to empower rural communities to take up responsibility for their own development – an important point that Nigeria’s policy makers seem not to have grasped.

Scope of the study

The scope of the study covers mass media as tool for enhancing farmers productivity

Limitation of the study

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work

Definition of term

Agricultural Program – This is used in this study as the program on farm ideas aired on radio

Level of access – This is used in this study as the rate at which farmers reach the radio program on agricultural issues

Farmers’ perception – This refers to farmers’ opinions on the program on farm issues as aired by the radio

Farm Production – This means increased agricultural development per person and per unit area, as well as increased output of the farm practice.

Rural Communities – This refers to the people and communities in non-urban areas to places where by virtue of lifestyles, residential location, or occupation, people think of themselves as part of the countryside

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