2 THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ENHANCING AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF IKA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE.
SALUBI HANNAH OYEYINKA
ABSTRACT
Agriculture plays an important role in Nigeria economy. Sustainable agricultural production requires current and relevant information by expert in the field .The delivery of agricultural extension services, agricultural science centers and agricultural universities are limited and unstable with little impact There is a need to fill the gap by exploring other optional for alternative agricultural extension service delivery mechanisms. Information and communication technology (ICT) can provide information on agricultural extension with more precision, faster relevant and higher quality. With the present challenges of corona virus, social media including the internet is now the most important source of useful information among the farmers in Nigeria.
Social media is yet another ICT-based tool that is used purely for entertainment, with great potential for knowledge sharing and collaboration in agriculture. These ICT devices are relatively easy to use and gaining popularity in the agricultural sector. Social media has great potential to be used as a tool of communication and networking for the benefit of the farming community, many farmers recognized it and started using it. Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world, with more than 1.87 billion monthly active user on its site. Social media channels enhanced and strengthened the relationship of agro based communities and helped rural workers combat the segregations created by their work. It has crossed geographical boundaries, thereby connecting the peasant communities to mutual interest. Blogs have a large presence covering topic on agriculture, animal husbandry, health and other topics of general interest. Social media plays a significant role in agricultural information among majority of young farmers in Ika South. This is because; it has been connecting young farmers and agro business farmers within the graphical area. It enhance interactions and information flows among the young farmers. In addition, distance is more a barrier. However, the use of social media is without few hindrances. Some of the challenges faced by Ika South young farmers in accessing social media are network problem, costly charge when accessing the internet as well as poor power service
From the study, it was deduce that public extension officers in Ika South area are insufficient hence the need for innovative services to fill the gap.
KEYWORDS: Social media, Agricultural Extension, Ika South.
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria as a country is presently facing economic recession due to Corona Virus pandemic. There is therefore need for a corresponding increase in agricultural production to meet the recommended level for human health as well as economic development.
Agricultural production implies the production of crops and farm animals that are useful to human beings. It further involves gathering, processing, recording, storing, distributing, selling of farm yields and provision of raw materials for local and foreign industries. Agricultural production in no doubt enhance growth and development of any nation, sadly, farmers are not meeting up with the high demand for agricultural output.
Today, meaningful agricultural production involves using the internet to access relevant agricultural information, retrieve, download, record, disseminate and communicate useful farm ideas about crops and livestock production, processing storing and marketing of farm yields using information and communication technology. The high demand for food items expansion and diversification in industries that utilize agricultural produce have placed a need for agricultural education to revolutionize its production sector pattern in order to meet the challenges.
Social media has become a powerful tool that connects millions of people globally from the comfort of our homes. Social media is revolutionizing the way business is carried out bringing new ways of communication and exchange of information across the globe. Social media is becoming a very important tool in farming because it has the ability to connect with farmers and agribusiness people from around the world over large geographical distances. The benefits of this can be as large or small as the farmer’s choose, depending on how much time we wish to spend on it. Social media plays a very important role in enhancing interactions and information flows among different actors involved in agricultural innovation and also enhance capacities of agricultural extension.
The power of social media is in the features that allow it to be applied to a whole range of applications that involve interactions between people (Chuli, et al, 2012). It has also remove the limitations of geographical distance from users, which enables a platform that shares knowledge and culture and can play a part in the economic and political power.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The agricultural sector globally is embracing social media and utilizing it to promote knowledge within the industry as well as networking with other like-minded agricultural professionals. The communities and relationships that agriculture is largely based on are further extended through social media channels and rural workers have begun to use social media to combat the feeling of isolation which arises due to the nature of their work.
Social media has taken us back to the days of storytelling, where everyone in a group has the opportunity to add to the story or share another point of view. This is so because it taps into one of humans most basic natural needs. Forming groups and sharing information, providing entertainment and communicating. Information and communication technology (ICT) can provide information on agricultural extension with more precision, faster, relevant and higher quality. (Goyal, 2011, Kritiken 2012 and World Bank, 2016). These technologies are reviving agricultural expansion and advisory services worldwide. (World Bank, 2016). ICT –based tools in agriculture vary from web portals, mobile telephone and hybrid project (ICT with traditional extension elements) (Shantichandra et al, 2013). Mass media including the internet is now the second most important source of useful information for agricultural families.
Advantages of social media in Agricultural extension as discussed by (Saravanan et al., 2015)
- Highly cost-effective
- Simultaneously reaches large numbers of clients
- Location and client-specific, problem –oriented.
- User-generated content and discussion among community members.
- Easily accessed from mobile phones
- Increase the internet presence of extension organizations and their client reach
- The democratization of information by making it accessible to all.
- Brings all stakeholders into single platform
- Can measure reach and success by tracking the number of visitors, friends, followers, mentions, facebook ‘likes’, conversation index and number of shares
Social Media Tools Commonly Used in Agriculture Extension
The use of social media in agriculture sector and expansion has gained momentum in recent times, with only popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube being used for agriculture and extension related works. Whatsapp is another major platform used by extension professionals to communicate with peer or client farmers but as communication (individual and group) is personal, more information is available about groups other than being referred to by media. The various social media tools popular these days are listed below
Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world, with more than 1.87 billion monthly active users on its site (We Are Social, 2017). And this means a huge potential for extension professionals. Some examples where Facebook is being used as an extension tool by individuals, professional networks, and extension organizations.
Microblogging site Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms globally with more than 300 million users. In a social context, it has been one of the major catalysts used for creating public opinions and for organizing people into groups. In agriculture too, it is one of the most used platforms.
YouTube
YouTube It is the video-sharing platform with a mission to give everyone a voice and show them the world and is based on four values: Freedom of expression, Freedom of information, Freedom of opportunity, and Freedom of belonging. Users can upload and watch the videos, and there is provision for sharing and commenting on videos with additional facilities for the subscription of other users.
Blogs
Blogs contain detailed information on specific topics. They create and facilitate an in-depth discussion on any issue through comments from the readers. With increased popularity, many blog competitions are also organized worldwide for rural youth to encourage them to start a discussion about farming. Even organizations like World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have their blogs not just to discuss issues but announce their new publications like policy papers, working papers, and reports and so on; communicate summaries of important publications, and to increase awareness and discussion on important issues related to agriculture and rural development.
A messenger app for smart phones, it is an internet-based messaging platform that supports text, audio, video, pdf, and various other forms of files. Real-time video chatting has also been integrated recently, making it more popular among users. Currently, there are more than one billion users of the app in 180 countries. Though initially used for personal messaging, it is gaining more popularity among agricultural professionals and practitioners to share information, which is aided by the group messaging feature.
Role of Social Media in Farming
In the global context, the agricultural sector is using social media to promote relevant information and knowledge within the industry and to network with other like-minded agricultural professionals. Social media channels enhanced and strengthened the relationships of agro-based communities and helped rural workers combat the segregation created by their work. It has crossed geographical boundaries, thereby connecting the peasant communities to mutual interest.
So far, blogs have a large presence covering topics on agriculture, animal husbandry, health, education, and other topics of general interest. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs are emerging as an appropriate platform to share information and create awareness among various stakeholders to generate and shape the content of the event.
These media complement traditional media as a viable source of information and facilitate the marketing of agricultural products and their products using pictures, links, and videos. They provide opportunities for users to share and exchange information and to discuss burning issues in agriculture based on their knowledge and
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study adopted a descriptive survey and farmers in Ika South Young Farmers Association were purposively sampled due to its relatively conventional mode of small scale farming hence the small scale farmers in the area met the characteristics of the study. The study randomly sampled 80 small scale farmers in the area and questionnaires and focus group discussion was also used to obtain information from the farmers.
Of recent, the number of extension workers has been decreasing drastically while the number of small scale farmers has been increasing therefore creating the need for innovative services to address this gap. (Gakuru et al., 2009). Compared with agriculture sector in developing countries, agriculture is becoming increasingly knowledge intensive. As agriculture systems become more complex, farmers’ access to reliable, timely and relevant information sources become more critical to their competitiveness. Information must be relevant and meaningful to farmers, in addition to being packaged and delivered in a way preferred by them. ( Diekmann Loibl & Batte, 2009).
FINDINGS
From the study, it was established that farmers required agricultural information to make the right decisions. The study further revealed that farmers require adequate and reliable agricultural information.
Furthermore 90% of the respondents agreed that they seek information from different sources in terms of literacy levels 80% of the respondents were well educated and hence are able to educate other farmers. On the other hand, 95% of the respondents had educational background in agriculture which gave them more advantages than other farmers.
In terms of availability of extension services, the study revealed that few extension officers were in place but they were not readily available to give farmers extension services due to the high demand of the extensions services and the present restriction caused by Corona Virus. This forced many farmers to seek alternative avenues like social media to get agricultural information. The study revealed that 85% of, the respondents agreed that extension officers provide information on small holder include enterprise selection, farm planning, market price information and farm visits.
The study established that Besses’ District has public extension officers available for the entire district which is insufficient and this supports Gakuru et al. (2009) who stated that the number of extension workers has been decreasing while farmer numbers have been increasing; hence the need for innovative services to address this gap. Furthermore, the extension information offered is out of date, irrelevant and not applicable to small farmers’ needs, leaving such farmers with very little information or resources to improve their productivity.
Majority of the farmers use social media to seek for a variety of agricultural information, mostly scientific, educational and technology based, including training information, agrochemicals and technological information. The study further revealed that 65% of farmers however do not take as much interest in market based agricultural information including market trends, price, and stock available as well as credit facilities, source, terms and conditions.
It follows then, that, farmers in the study area source for agricultural information from a variety of avenues, key among which include the internet, social media and extension services. As such, the social media, as compared to other sources is significantly adopted among farmers in the study area.
Extension services can be made available using various 1CT channels. Broad basing agricultural extension activities; developing farming system research and extension; having location-specific modules of research and extension; and promoting market extension, sustainable agricultural development, participatory research, etc. are some of the numerous areas where ICT can play an important role (Mbugua et al., 2012). They further state that IT can help by enabling extension workers to gather, store, retrieve and disseminate a broad range of information needed by farmers, thus transforming them from extension workers into knowledge workers.
Respondents were further asked to indicate the various challenges they encountered when trying to obtain information from social media. Among the most common challenges faced include poor network access, power outages, and costly charges when accessing the internet.
CONCLUSION
From the study, it can be concluded that majority of farmers have a positive attitude towards the use of social media in seeking agricultural information. Facebook is the most common social media platform among farmers in the study area.
Further deduction indicated that while most farmers using social media are active on the same, few either rarely or never use the media to obtain agricultural information. Majority of the young farmers’ source for agricultural information from variety of avenues. They have only little interest in market-based agricultural information, market trend, price and stock availability and credit facilities.
It can be concluded that majority of the young farmers in Ika South highly require agricultural information especially on training information, agrochemicals and technological information.
RECOMMENDATIONS
From the study it is recommended that the authority in Ika South should establish government owned information centers for young farmers to access agricultural information online with stable power supply.
Instead of much effort given to communication campaigns, social media can complement especially now that we’re observing social distancing, as a result of Corona Virus pandemic.
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