GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The study sought to assess the perceived effectiveness of traditional media of communication used by crop farmers in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The research was carried out in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The population of the study comprised all crop farmers in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was adopted in choosing villages and respondents, to give a total of 120 crop farmers (respondents), constituting the sample size for the study. The main instrument used in this study was a questionnaire titled “Perceived Effectiveness of Traditional Media of Communication Questionnaire (PETMCQ)”. Oral interview was also used to complement questionnaire where respondents were illiterate. Face and content validation of the instrument was carried out to ensure that the instrument has the accuracy, appropriateness, completeness and the language of the study under consideration. Cronbach Alpha technique was used to determine the level of reliability of the instrument. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.84 and this was high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to appropriate statistical technique such as descriptive statistics. The test for significance was done at 0.05 alpha levels. The study concluded that the most common and utilized media of communicating agricultural information in Ini Local Government Area are Town Crier, Beating of special drums, Signs & Symbolic Displays and Traditional Institutions. Also, the socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers in Ini Local Government Area have significant influence on the level of usage of the above channels of traditional media. The study therefore recommended that male persons should be actively involved in farming as their women counterparts in order to increase the output of goods in Ini local government. Also, Government and international agencies should also pay attention to the interests of the local farmers and to processes of technological change.

KEYWORDS: Perceived Effectiveness, Traditional Media, Communication, Farmers, Agricultural Information