Assessment of mass media contributions to agricultural technology adoption in Owerri Agricultural Zone of Imo State, Nigeria

Nwankwo OO and Orji O

Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: oonnwankwo2008@yahoo.com

Accepted 24 December 2012

Abstract

Mass Media contributions to agricultural technology adoption were studied. That its effectiveness in innovation adoption is not much noticed in the study area necessitated this study. Through multi-stage random sampling, 60 respondents were selected from six communities. Community leaders provided list of farmers. Frequencies, percentages, means and Likert-type scale were used to analyze data generated using questionnaire. Results show that 95% of respondents were literate, 81.67% had 11-25 years farming experience and 83.33% had 6-15 household members. Posters, radios and televisions were most effective in influencing adoption, influencing 83.33%, 66.67% and 66.67% of respondents respectively. They brought credibility to known innovations, reached different people at the same time, but provided no effective feed back, messages were short lived and could not address farmers’ specific needs. The facilities were expensive too. Conventional extension methods and better marketing of produce through farmers’ co-operative society should be adopted to address these issues.

Keywords: Mass media, innovation, agricultural extension, dissemination, adoption and socio-economic characteristics.