The International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD)
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 102 Document Number: D10897
Notes:
8 pages., IAALD XIIIth World Congress., via IAALD website., Governments have been largely responsible for research and the provision of extension services in Nigeria. The emphasis has been on the transfer of technology, paying little attention to farmer development and communication needs. Recently, the high output of agricultural research has led to a large pool of new agricultural technologies, which are yet to be disseminated to farmers, particularly those in the core rural areas. Therefore this study examined development and information need of the resource poor and the strategy adopted to meet these needs, using „town crier‟ as a case study. The study identified 2 states in south west, Nigeria, based on literature/past studies, where this concept has been adopted. A focused group discussion technique and interview schedule was adopted for data collection. The study identified 141 „town criers‟ across the study areas through the help of key informants. Results shown all Town Criers are male, average age of 55.54 years and all have postsecondary education. Town Crier primarily source of information is from the traditional-head. Main information disseminated by the Town Crier bothers on security of the town and community development and projects. The study concluded that this channel rarely meets the information need of the people, as the study revealed that only 20% of such information meets these needs. Past studies have documented that information/communication channels in Nigeria such as extension institution has collapse, there is no effective communication channels in the country again. The small number of extension officers that exists, only congregate at the urban towns, leaving behind those at the rural areas. Thus, the use of town criers in this regards can be used effectively to fill this gap and can also be trained on basic extension work.
17 pages., Via open source journal., The rural farmers in western Rajasthan State are uneducated and most of the applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are demonstrated and run in the English Language. The majority of these rural farmers who are illiterates with a very low level of understanding of the English Language find it difficult to take advantage of the availability of ICT to facilitate their access to information for their farm businesses. This study examined the role of ICT in enhancing the farmers’ access to production and marketing information in western Rajasthan State in India. Primary data was collected from 133 farmers consisting of 71 ICT users and 62 Non-ICT users through questionnaire administration. The results of the Analysis of Variance test regarding the farmers’ access to different types of production and marketing information revealed that the user type (i.e., ICT versus Non-ICT user) significantly explains the differences in farmers’ access to the different types of marketing and production information. These results are consistent with the empirical results of the student’s t-test that farmers’ access to different types of production and marketing information from ICT sources is significantly higher than from Non-ICT sources. Consistently, the empirical results of the multiple regressions revealed that the percentage of production and marketing information obtained from ICT sources had positive significant influence on the farmers’ access to marketing and production information; and that the percentage of marketing and production information obtained from Non-ICT sources had negative significant influence on the farmers’ access to marketing and production information. These results suggest that ICT sources of marketing and production information play a crucial role in the farmers’ access to this information for their business operations. The implication is that proper education and training of farmers (especially the female farmers) about the utilization of ICT sources to accelerate access to information is crucial