Comparative Analysis of the Determinants of Mass Media Usage by Urban and Rural Farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study compared the determinants of mass media usage by urban and rural farmers in Kogi State, Nigeria. A three staged random sampling technique was used to select 320 respondents. Data obtained through structured questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics and logit regression model. The study showed that 82.50% and 68.1% of the urban and rural farmers were males while 17.50% of urban and 31.9% of rural farmers were females. The result also revealed that urban farmers had a mean farm size of 2.5 hectares while the rural farmers had 5 hectares. Most (41.26%) of the rural farmers had no formal education. The result of the influence of socio-economic characteristics on media usage showed that age, education, extension contact, income and farming experience of urban and rural farmers were found to be positively related to the use of television, radio, GSM and internet at 5% level of probability. The study recommends improvement in educational status of farmers, especially those in rural areas through adult education programmes. Also, extension services in both urban and rural areas should be improved.