IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM ON CROP PRODUCTION IN AHOADA WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study assessed the role of agricultural journalism in enhancing crop production in Ahoada
West Local Government Area, Rivers State. The objectives were to: determine the socio-
economic characteristics of the respondents; identify the mass media through which respondent
access agricultural information; assess the agricultural information that is disseminated through
the mass media; examine the role of agricultural journalism in crop production; and ascertain the
challenges facing agricultural journalism in the study area. Data were collected through the use
of a questionnaire. A total of 129 respondents were used. Data were analyzed with the use of
frequency, percentage, mean scores and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings showed that
majority (60.5%) were female, were married (53.5%), had household size of 5 to 8 persons
(51.9%), had formal education (86.8%), have been in farming between 6 - 10 years (29.5%)
and had an income level between N31,000 – N40,000 (35.7%). Major source of information
among crop producers was television (14.0%) and kinds of information disseminated for crop
production were information on improved planting techniques (19.4%) followed by information
on agricultural loan (12.4%). The roles of agricultural journalism were to create awareness on
modern farming methods (=3.64), promoting market it for farm products (=3.55), etc. The
major constraints to agricultural journalism were language barriers (=3.60), limited coverage of
farmers’ needs and inadequate credit (=3.50), lack of Information Technology and
Communication (ICT) infrastructure and poor radio and television signals (=3.48) etc. The study
recommends that agricultural programme should be presented in both English and Local
Languages, power stability should be improved and there is need to establish a community Rural
Television