Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour of Farmers for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Benue State, Nigeria
- June 6, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue V, May 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Lughlugh, Joseph
University Library and Information Services, Benue State University, Makurdi-Nigeria
Abstract: – The study investigated Information needs and Information Seeking behaviour of farmers in Benue State for sustainable agricultural development. Three purposes with corresponding research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of the study comprised of 4200 registered farmers with Benue State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA). The sample size for the study was 365 farmers who were selected using multi-stage sampling procedure. The instrument employed for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire titled ‘Questionnaire on Information Need and Information Seeking Behaviour of Farmers in Benue State” (QINISBFBS) which was validated by three experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was established using Cronbach Alpha method and a reliability coefficient of 0.72 was obtained which showed that the instrument was highly reliable. Data collected for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentages to answer research questions and chi-square statistics to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed some information needs of farmers for Sustainable agricultural development in Benue to include; fertilizer and agrochemicals, pest and diseases control, agricultural finance, improved seedling, post-harvest technology, control of weeds, modern technology application among others. It also revealed that Information needs of farmers significantly leads to sustainable agricultural development in Benue State. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.
I. INTRODUCTION
The importance of Agriculture in the economy of Nigeria cannot be over emphasized; despite the growth of industries, oil and commerce it had continued to be the principal economic activity carried out by most Nigerians. According to the recent report of the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 agriculture Contributed (26%) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) followed by industries (20%) (NBS, 2017). The contribution of Agriculture to the overall GDP in real term was 25.49% in the 4th quarter of 2016, which in contrast to the economy as a whole for full year 2016 grew by 4.11% (NBS, 2017). These analogies suggest that agriculture occupies a very prominent position in the growth and development of Nigerian economy.
