AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION SEEKING AMONG URBAN VEGETABLE FARMERS IN THE LA DADE-KOTOPON MUNICIPALITY

ABSTRACT

Farmers’ access to relevant and useful agricultural information is key to improving their productivity. Research shows that the information needs of farmers differ and that the behaviour of farmers in seeking information is as varied as their production systems. The study was conducted to identify the information needs and assess the information seeking behaviour of urban vegetable farmers whose activities supplement the food needs of an increasingly urbanised population in sub-Saharan Africa. The study employed quantitative methodology and collected secondary and primary data in the La Dade-Kotopon municipality. Secondary data was collected from the Directorate of agriculture of the municipal assembly and primary data was then elicited from 60 vegetable farmers in the municipality using face-to- face interviews on their information search activities in the previous six months. Results were analysed using means, frequencies and chi-square, and were presented using descriptive statistics. The majority of farmers (62%) reported a need for information for their agricultural activities. This need for information had no significant relationship with the farmers’ age, educational level, sex, major occupation, and their membership in farmer associations. Of the percentage that needed information, 38% needed information on disease and pest control with a third indicating this need was ‘important’ to them and 61% reporting the need only as ‘somewhat important’. Information on pest and disease control was the highest (43%) information type obtained by the farmers in the six-month period. Most respondents (75%) contacted other farmers for information with at least five such contacts in the reference period by a majority (51%) of the farmers. However, farmers’ preferences for information sources did not match their information-seeking behaviour: extension officers from the district assembly were the most preferred source of information (67% of respondents) but were second to ‘other farmers’ in terms of the frequency of contact. A large majority (85%) of farmers reported being most constrained by their inability to use the internet. The study concludes that the information needs of farmers are varied, and farmers attach different levels of importance to these needs. It also concludes that farmers prefer inter-personal information sources to other sources of information, and that farmers’ inability to use the internet is a major barrier to information seeking. Thus, the study recommends that information should be tailored to meet the needs of farmers, especially information on the control of pest and diseases. Finally, the study recommends that, since extension officers from the district officers were the most preferred source but not the most contacted, more should be done to make them more accessible by the farmers.