Farmers’ Information Needs in Soap Opera Utilisation for Agricultural Enterprise Promotion in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Several studies have established workability and acceptance of entertainment-education and its variants like soap opera for disseminating agricultural information. However, little evidences exist on the information needs of farmers in respect of soap opera utilisation for agricultural information dissemination.  This study therefore examined farmers’ information needs in soap opera utilisation for agricultural enterprise promotion in Southwestern Nigeria. Using a multistage sampling procedure, 150 farmers were randomly selected across selected states in the study area. Data were collected with the use of interview schedule on farmers’ enterprise characteristics, information needs and perceived constraints to the use of soap opera for agricultural based enterprise promotion. Data were analysed using descriptive (means and percentages) and inferential (PPMC) statistics at p=0.05. Almost half of the respondents (49.3%) were involved in crop production. Among livestock farmers, mean fish stock was 154.8+611.6 fish, while among agro-processor, 2.7% processed garri.  Crop produced by farmers varied from maize (90.5%), cassava (85.3%) and leafy vegetables (43.2%). Higher proportion (95.3%) of farmers would like the soap opera to cover crop planting procedure (95.3%), marketing strategies (91.3%), rural health (86.0%) and seasonal rainfall prediction (84.0%), unstable power supply (275.8), unfavourable broadcasting hour (246.2) and language barrier (239.3) were identified as constraints to the use of soaps for agricultural enterprise promotion. Perceived constraints were not significantly correlated with farmers’ enterprise based information (r= 0.11; p=0.18). It is recommended that soap opera for agricultural enterprise promotion should focus on crop and livestock production with emphasis on preferred agricultural information types.