Assessment of extension communication channels among cashew farmers in Aniocha-South and Ika-South Local Government Areas (LGAS) of Delta State, Nigeria
The study assessed cashew farmers’ usage of extension communication channels. A sample of 336 cashew farmers were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The study revealed that, 50% of respondents were between 41-60 years of age with primary education (50.9%) and household size (60%) of 6-10 people, dominated by males (76.8%). Also, majority (60%) of respondents had long farming experience between 11-15 years, large farm size (62.5%) of 1-5 hectares with low extension visits of 1-2 times in every three months and were members of cooperative societies (58.3%). The most available extension channels were relatives/friends/neighbours (95.2%), interpersonal communication (89.3%) and usage of contact farmers (59.2%). Others were radio (55.7%) and group discussion (53.9%). The highly perceived frequency of communication channels used in the dissemination of information to the respondents were relatives/friends/neighbour (= 2.30), interpersonal communication (= 2.46), use of contact farmers (2.24), radio (2.26) and group discussion (2.54) respectively. The major constraints were inadequate extension agents (99.1%), farmers’ poor attendance at meetings (92.3%), inefficient use of communication channels (84.5%), lack of trust of extension agents (62.2%), among others. It was concluded that, although, most of the available extension communication channels were also highly perceived to be frequently used in the dissemination of information to farmers, but inadequate extension agents were still a major treat to the sustainable use of the channels. There is need for the provision of digital extension by agents to support the use of relatives/friends/neighbours which was the most frequently used communication channel in the study area in order to ensure regular availability and accessibility.
Key words: Assessment, Cashew farmers, Delta State, Extension communication channels
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