Agricultural Information Needs and Provision to Crop Farmers in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.

Abstract

This paper examines the agricultural information needs and provisions for crop farmers in Ohaji/Egbema local government area. Five specific objectives/five research questions guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was used to study the crop farmers/rural farmers in Ohaji/Egbema. The population of the study is five thousand seven hundred and forty (5,740) crop farmers. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were used for data collection. Five hundred and seventy-four (574) copies of the questionnaire were distributed, while 560 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and used. The data generated was analysed using simple mean, standard deviation and table. From the analysis and findings, it was deduced that agricultural information is very important to crop farmers in Ohaji/ Egbema local government area. It also reveals that the agricultural information needs of the people of Ohaji/Egbema are not being met as expected. The findings also revealed that crop farmers are faced with some challenges such as poor access roads to aid the movement of extension workers, agricultural information not being broadcast in local languages, and lack of money to purchase newsletters. However, this study recommends that the government should disseminate agricultural information on radio and television twice a week, using the Ohaji/Egbema dialect to enable the non-literate farmers to understand and apply the innovation while ensuring that radio broadcasts on agricultural information when the majority of the rural farmers would have returned from the farm between 7 pm – 8 pm. Government should also deploy extension workers who are familiar with their native language to.