University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Farmers' information-seeking behavior, and impact of information source on soybean technology adoption in Nigeria

Kehinde, Lucy Abosede

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Description

Title
Farmers' information-seeking behavior, and impact of information source on soybean technology adoption in Nigeria
Author(s)
Kehinde, Lucy Abosede
Issue Date
1994
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Osborne, Edward W.
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Business Administration, General
  • Agriculture, General
  • Education, Agricultural
Language
eng
Abstract
  • The state of knowledge of agricultural support systems provides few insights into: (a) differences in resource-poor farmers' information seeking behavior and (b) the examination of agricultural information sources as support systems that may differ in their influence on technology development, transfer, and utilization.
  • To fill this research gap, a field survey involving 200 soybean producing farmers was conducted in Southwestern Nigeria. Various institutions involved in providing information on soybean technology were categorized into national government and research institutions (NGI), international research centers (IRC), international intergovernmental institutions (IIGI), and informal institutions (INF). The basic assumption was that farmers' information seeking behaviors differ, that antecedent characteristics influence farmers' use of the various information sources, and that the use of the information source influences the technical, economic and social elements of technology adoption.
  • The findings indicated that: (a) differences existed in the farmers' information-seeking behavior, (b) the education level, year of initial adoption, and resource status tended to influence farmers' use of the various information sources, (c) gender was found to relate to the proportion of total land allocated to soybeans as a new crop, and (d) information sources varied in their pattern of influence on the different elements of adoption; for example, use of NGI + IIGI emerged as the only intervening variable which significantly explained the probability of adoption in relation to technical, economic, and social elements.
  • Theoretically, this thesis supports the model of agricultural research and technology transfer that recognizes the dual role of information source as it influences technology adoption, and is in turn, influenced by farmers' antecedent characteristics. The findings also suggest that NGI-supported programs tend to facilitate efficacy of service. Based on the findings, it is recommended that Nigerian government policy on agriculture consider the mobilization of potential sectors of support to complement public efforts. This effort will create and stabilize conditions necessary to increase resource poor farmers' use of effective and efficient information sources.
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21743
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1994 Kehinde, Lucy Abosede

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