Impact of mass media on adoption of agricultural innovations in Kaduna State.

Abstract

The study assessed the impact of mass media extension activities on awareness, adoption and gross farm income of the farmers in Kaduna State. It also examined how farmers\' characteristics interact with the intervention of extension communication to determine small-scale farmers\' adoption behaviours. A sample of 100 farmers were randomly selected and interviewed. The results showed that on the whole the impact of mass media was moderately positive. Awareness of agricultural innovations was high as more than 80 per cent of the respondents knew about the eight recommended farm practices presented to them. Adoption score was however low. The innovation with the highest adoption score was chemical fertilizer, while the least adopted innovations were millet and tractor hiring services. The Pearson's correlation analysis also indicated that a number of socio-economic factors (farm size, household size and non-farm income) were positively related (at p.0.05)to the impact of mass media on adoption. unlike the radio, extension bulletin in Hausa and posters other mass media sources like newspapers, magazines and film shows did not make desired significant impact on the adoption of recommended farm practices. Based on the result of the study, it was recommended that policy makers should effectively integrate mass media programmes with other aspects of agricultural and rural development programmes and projects at all the planning stages.

Keywords: Mass media, adoption, agricultural innovations

JOAFSS Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 89-98