PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION SOURCES USE BY THE MAIZE FARMERS’ IN LALMONIRHAT DISTRICT

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the preference of communication sources use for farming information in selected areas of Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat district and to explore the relationships between ten selected characteristics of the farmers and their preference of communication source use. Data were obtained from 104 randomly selected farmers from Bhelaguri, Naudabash and Gotamariunions under Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat district by using an interview schedule. Data were collected from from15 June to 25 July, 2017. Ten selected characteristics of the farmers namely: age, educational qualification, farm size, maize cultivation area, annual family income, cosmopoliteness, training exposure, knowledge on maize cultivation, attitude towards maize cultivation and innovativeness were the independent variables, while preference of communication source use was the focus issue of the study. The majority (61.53 percent) of respondents had medium preference of communication source while 18.26 percent had low and 20.19 percent had high preference of communication source. In contrast, in case of individual communication sources, family members were mentioned by majority of respondents (PCSUI=372) as the most preferred source of information and neighbours occupied the second position in the ranking with PCSUI=360 of the maize farmers. However, Agriculture Extension Officer (AEO) occupied the last position in the ranking of the preferred source of agricultural information. In case of mass media channels agricultural TV program (PCSUI=293) were the most preferred mass media sources by the farmers for agricultural information. Moreover cell phone (PCSUI=307) were the 6thmost preferred sources of communication. Correlation analysis indicated that farm size, maize cultivation area, annual income, cosmopoliteness, knowledge on maize cultivation, attitude towards maize cultivation and innovativeness showed significant positive relationship whereas age, educational qualification, and training exposure of the farmers did not show any relationship with their preference of communication source use.