CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AND FARMERS’ READERSHIP OF AGRICULTURAL NEWS IN NIGERIA

Inadequate access to agricultural information contributes largely to low productivity among farmers in Nigeria. The print media has been especially implicated on its low coverage and provision of agricultural information, thus limiting readership among farmers. To validate this observation, the extent of coverage of agricultural news in print media and farmer’s readership were therefore assessed. Content analyses of Nigerian Tribune, New Nigerian, This Day, The Punch and The Comet newspapers as well as questionnaire survey methods were used for carrying out the study. Fett’s seven categories of General news, Pricing and marketing, Government policy, Editorials, Commentaries, Special recommendations and Human interest were used for content analysis. Six hundred and ninety-three agricultural news columns in 960 newspaper editions published between 1999 and 2003 were analysed. Katsina and Lagos states were purposively selected for questionnaire survey. 50 percent of the blocks and cells in the states’ Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) were randomly selected and 50 percent of farmers’ groups in selected cells were chosen for questionnaire administration resulting in 160 respondents. Personal characteristics and readership of agricultural news were assessed. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and ANOVA at p=0.05.