The Role of Radio in Agricultural Development in Ejura Sekyedumase, Ghana.

Abstract

One of the social institutions that intervene in and help the development of communities, societies and nations is the media. Farmers' adoption of new technology that boosts the productivity of agricultural practices depends heavily on the availability of farming information to agrarians. Radio is an important tool for providing farmers with relevant and timely information. The study sought to investigate how radio can help Ghana's Ejura-Sekyedumase region promote agricultural development. The theoretical foundation for this study was the diffusion of innovation theory. The study employed the mixed-method approach to collect primary data from Ejura-Sekyedumase. Questionnaires were administered to 100 farmers to collect quantitative information for the research. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather qualitative information. The study showed that farmers most frequently used radio and fellow farmers as sources of agricultural information. The study also revealed that convenience and accessibility were the most important factors influencing their choice of agricultural information sources. The study discovered that farmers in Ejura-Sekyedumase preferred to hear about agrochemicals and farm product market prices. The study also found that radio contributed to development by providing farmers with relevant information that met their information needs for increased productivity. The findings further indicated that broadcast programmes enlightened and assisted farmers in generating wealth. The study also revealed that power outages, unfavourable time allocation for agricultural programs on radio and poor radio signals were the most significant challenges farmers faced when using radio to access agricultural information.