THE ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN KHANA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed the role of mass media in vegetable production in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria, the study describes the socio-economic characteristics of vegetable farmers, identify their farming experience, ascertain their household size, looked at their monthly income, accessed their awareness and use of mass media channels for information dissemination, identified constraints to the role of mass media to vegetable farmers in the study area. Multi-staged sampling technique was used to randomly draw 100 respondents from the study area. Data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire and analyzed using frequency, means, percentages and correlative analysis. The study found that females dominated the population, with 56.0% of the respondents being married, 18.0% divorced/separated, while single and widowed individuals each accounted for 13.0%. The age distribution ranged from 21 to 60 years and above, with respondents within the age bracket of41-50 years constituting 35.0%, followed by 31.0% for the 51-60 years age group. The majority (58.0%) had secondary education, while 18.0% had tertiary education. The highest percentage, 39.0%, was recorded for those with 11-15 years of experience, followed by 25.0% for 6-10 years of experience. The largest percentage, 48.0%, had household sizes of 5-8 members, and the highest percentage, 27.0%, fell within the N31,000 - N41,000 income range. The study identified radio, education centers, and SMS as the most acceptable and available sources of information for the farmers, while mass media such as television, newspaper, magazine, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, SMS, bulletin, and flier/pamphlet were regarded as ineffective mass media channels in the study area. The study concluded that age and educational level of the vegetable farmers in Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State had a significant relationship with their awareness and use of mass media channels for information dissemination. The study recommends improving infrastructure, developing localized content and interactive platforms in local languages, collaborating with the private sector, offering media literacy training, and integrating mass media with on-the-ground extension services for effective agricultural communication.