Authors : M.A. Oladoja , O.A. Adeokun and O.E. Fapojuwo
Abstract: The study examined the socio-economic factors affecting farmer`s use of communication methods for information sourcing in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. One hundred and eight farmers were proportionately sampled from the 10 wards constitute the respondents. Frequency counts and percentages were used to describe the data while chi-square was used to test hypothesis. The findings revealed that 18.52% of the farmers have no formal education, while 81.48% were literate and more than half of the respondents (58.33%) realizes between N13, 000-N16, 999 as their average income per year. Majority (63.89%) belongs to two different social organizations, while only 29.93% belongs to more different social organization. However the majority of the farmers in the study complained about the severe constraint of the high cost of mass media form of communication and readability problem. The majority of the farmers in the study confirmed that indigenous methods of communication were very effective and the best at the study area. There were significant relationship between age, level of education, farmers` income, membership of social organization and the use of communication methods in sourcing information by farmers. Sequel to the findings from the study, it is recommended that the change agent should use local language to communicate with the farmers. It is equally important for researchers, extension agents, rural development experts and policy maker to recognize the role of indigenous methods of communication in agricultural information dissemination. The farmers should equally be motivated to practice modern methods of communication as source of information by providing necessary incentives to them.
M.A. Oladoja , O.A. Adeokun and O.E. Fapojuwo , 2008. Determining the Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Farmer`s Use of Communication Methods for Information Sourcing in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria . Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 5: 51-56.