Participatory Communication And Adoption Of Soil Fertility Management Practices: Evidence From Two Agro-Ecological Zones In Ghana
Date
2023-01
Authors
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
Communication is widely recognised as essential to the development of rural communities
located in African countries like Ghana. While the practice of development communication
has widely been informed by either an instrumentalist/diffusion or participatory perspective,
there is an argument for the study of development communication from a constructivist
perspective. Such a perspective focuses less on exploring the outcomes of development
communication efforts and allows for a closer examination of contextual issues affecting
communication. Given that the existing theoretical recommendation of participatory
communication for sharing soil fertility management messages is not complemented with
enough evidence of its practical application, this study examined participatory
communication as it was applied in a project implemented in two agro-ecological zones in
Ghana. Using a grounded theory approach and collecting data through interviews, focus
group discussions, observations and reviews of transcripts of a radio programme, the study
examined the dialogic tactics used by farmers and scientists involved in the interaction,
scientists’ and farmers’ perceptions of participatory communication, the contextual
conditions which informed successful participatory communication and how participatory
communication facilitated farmers’ adoption of soil fertility management. Findings of this
study showed that participatory communication leads to scientists’ awareness of indigenous
knowledge forms which improves communication competence when those knowledge
forms are made to inform messaging. This is done through the appropriation of local
metaphors, analogies, examples, testimonies, etc. Moreover, the outcomes of participatory
communication are not inevitably positive; but dependent on the salience of a number of
factors in the reckoning of scientists and farmers. Lastly, participation and transmission are
not necessarily incompatible or mutually exclusive especially in the case of addressing
scientific topics such as soil fertility management.
Description
PhD. Communication Studies
Keywords
Communication, Soil Fertility, Two Agro-Ecological Zones, Ghana