Abstract

Before the advent of radio and television, information dissemination was one of the biggest problems agriculturists faced in informing and receiving feedback from farmers on agricultural innovations; their invention has made communication easier, especially among the rural farmers. The study assessed the role of radio and television in agricultural information transfer among farmers in Katsina-Ala local government area of Benue State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was adopted in collecting data. Data were collected from primary source by survey using structured questionnaire administered on 144 respondents (farmers) selected randomly from four council wards. Data collected were analyzed and presented using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that 97.2% of the respondents listen to radio, 91.7% listen to agricultural programmes on radio, 69.4% spent at least one hour on listening to radio in a day. The results of the findings further reveal that 86.7% obtained information on fertilizer application through radio, 36.8% obtained information on rearing of improved breeds of livestock through television. 77.8% adopted insects/pest control based on information obtained through radio, 36.1% adopted rearing of improved breeds of livestock based on information obtained through television. On problems encountered from radio; 77.8% of the programmes presented were not respondents’ interactive and 45.8% poor reception of television signals. It is recommended that agricultural programmes presented by radio stations should be made interactive and television booster station should be established in the area to enhance reception of television signals.