Perceived Importance of Agricultural Information Among Fish Farmers In Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focused on the perceived agricultural information among fish farmers in Edo State, Nigeria. The specificobjective were to; examine the socio-economic characteristics of fish farmers; identify their source of agricultural information; ascertain agricultural information needed; ascertain respondents' perceived importance of specific agricultural information; and identify the constraints encountered by respondents in sourcing agricultural information. Data were collected from one hundred and fifty (150) respondents across the 3 agricultural zones in Edo State with the use of structured questionnaire validated by expert judgment and interview schedule. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment correlation (PPMC) was used to test the relationship that exist between the socio-economic characteristics and perception of the respondents on the importance of agricultural information. The result showed that majority (87.3%) of the respondents were male and are 30years and below with a mean age of 28 years. Age (r=-0.222, p<0.01), Sex (r=0.158,p>0.05), were significantly related to respondents perception of agricultural information on fish farming/production. The study concludes that fish farmers in Edo State perceived information as important and a factor of production and they are willing to pay for this information in other to improve their fish farming skills and increase fish production. The study thus recommends that Government should provide means of encouraging timely information dissemination to farmers by extension agents who are saddled with the responsibility of disseminating useful information to farmers on fish farming technologies in order to improve and increase fish production in Edo State.