Magazine 2015
International Peer-Reviewed Journal
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
ATTITUDE OF FARMERS TOWARDSAGRICULTURAL
INFORMATIONAND THEIRADOPTION
INFLUENCED BY NEWS PAPERS
Harshada Rathod
ABSTRACT
With the increasing literacy levels in rural areas, the print media has been having tremendous impact in
changing the agriculture scenario. It is believed that information through print media is definitely well
organized and easily understandable. Besides this, it has entertainment value. In addition to the routine
news story, farm literature also provides pleasant humorous or interesting features of various kinds which
give the readera light entertainment. The development of print media as a source of farm information has
given birth to a new discipline now known as agricultural journalism.
There is scope to improve this informationregarding agriculture by publishing it in local language newspapers
to make it more understandable, interesting and acceptable to the farmers.It can also be concluded that
newspapers play an important role in popularizing the agricultural practice of the farmers through it credible
writing of agricultural journalism.
Key Words : Attitude, Adoption, Disseminate, Print Media, Agricultural Journalism, Subscriber
Introduction :
Scientific knowledge in different aspects of agriculture is growing at a fast rate. However, this knowledge
has to reach the farmers in the shortest possible time and in the most effective manner to bring about
maximum benefits to the farmerswho are basically in the villages. This is possible only if there is sound
communication strategy which would effectively and quickly disseminate the latest technological
information to the farming community.
With the increasing literacy levels in rural areas, the print media has been having tremendous impact in
changing the agriculture scenario. It is believed that information through print media is definitely well
organized and easily understandable. Besides this, it has entertainment value. In addition to the routine
news story, farm literature also provides pleasant humorous or interesting features of various kinds which
give the reader from the agricultural sector a light entertainment. The development of print media as a
source of farm information has given birth to a new discipline now known as agricultural journalism.
In all development programmes, the supportive role of press can hardly be denied. How this role is
being performed is of interest to all concerned with rural development programmes. Considering the
importance of newspaper in the transfer of technology among the farmers, the study was undertaken
with the following objectives.
Objectives:
a. To know the place allotted for coverageof agricultural information compared to non-agricultural
information.
b. To assess the utility of agricultural information, as perceived by readers.
c. To study the attitude of farmers with regard to the agricultural information published in newspaper.
d. To identify the correlation of farmers attitude towards the agricultural information published in
newspapers.
e. To find out the effect of adoption of technology by the farmers by reading information published on
agricultural technology in regional language newspaper
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Methodology:
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
The present investigation was undertaken in NadiadTaluka, Gujarat State. To elicit the information regarding
newspaper reading by farmers and their attitudes towards the agricultural coverage 241 farmers
readingnewspaper were selected randomly and the data were collected with the help of an interview
schedule. Content Analysis was done by counting information under different headings, secondary data
was collected from various published sources.
Review of Literature:
According to Klapper (1966) print alone, among the media, allows the reader to control the occasion,
the pace and directions of his exposure and permits him re-exposure more easily than other media. The
printed word has a lasting power beyond that of the spoken word or visual image. The readers can read
print media at their leisure and can keep it for future reference.
Robert Lawrence, (1965) observes that no country has ever modernized without dealing with the basic
task of communication. The establishment of low-cost self supporting rural newspaper is one of the most
natural, easiest and fastest means of doing so.
The Rural Press Development Seminar on ‘function and organization of Print Media for Rural Development,
held in Nairobi (Kenya) in 1980, concluded, rural newspapers can serve as an effective tool of
communication. It can promote and sustain literacy.
Patel S.M.’s (1982) study has revealed that a majority (71 %) of the respondents utilize agricultural news
published in ‘Gujarat Samachar’ to a medium extent where as 17 percent and 12 percent of the respondents
utilize it to low and high levels respectively.
Patel B.K. (1988) indicates that 78.33 percent and 21.67 percent of the readers regard the “Krishi-go-
Vidya” magazine as ‘most effective’ and ‘effective’ respectively. No reader rates it as ‘less-effective’.
Hasan (1995) has studied the impact of magazines in the promotion of knowledge of the subscribers.
He has found that in the case of the ‘Indian Farmers Digests’ a majority of the subscribers (60.66 %) are
affected more by the information given in the magazine, while ‘less impact’ on a few subscribers.
SinghadLaharia (1989) found that a majority of farmers from the young to middle age group with high
school education, having agriculture as their prime occupation and medium sized land holding read
newspapers and farm magazines to gain knowledge on agricultural information.
Findings:
Results obtained from the present investigation are summarized as under:
(
a) Place Allotted for Coverage of Information on Agricultural:
Place of Agricultural Information compared to Non-Agricultural Information -It was observed that most of
the space was occupied by non-agricultural information i.e. 95-93 percent, whereas, very negligible
space was given for agricultural information.It has been observed that out of total space given to agriculture,
5
8 percent space was occupied by agricultural advertisement, 23 percent space was allotted for
information on forestryand other related items while only 19 percent space was used for agricultural
news. The above findings are in line with the findings reported by Sawant (1987).Utility perception scale
development by Jondhale (1988) was used to assess the utility of newspaper for farmers.
Majority (60.17 %) of subscribers conceived the content to be very easy to read,followed by somewhat
difficult in reading (22.82 %) and very difficult in reading (17.01 %).About 66.89 percent subscribers rated
the newspaper as moderately credible followed by 17.43 percent who regarded it as highly credible and
the balance 16.18 percent considered it as less credible.
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RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
Table 1
Distribution of Respondents As Per their Utility Component
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RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
It is observed that about 66.80 per centof the subscribers perceived content of newspaper was easy to
understand while 25.73 per cent of them perceived that content of newspaper was not easy to understand
and only 7.47 per cent subscribers perceived difficulty in understanding.
As regards the practicability of information 64.32 per cent subscribers felt that information was somewhat
practicable 18.47 per cent of them felt that information was practicable and 17.01 per cent subscribers
felt that information was hardly practicable.
Analysis with respect to, perception of respondents, on use of terminology in the newspaper, showed
that 53.94 per cent subscribers perceived that use of terminology was moderate, while 33.20 per cent
perceived the use of terminology to be difficult.
While attempting to know the timeliness of published agricultural information to meet the needs of
subscribers, it was observed that 65.15 per centsubscribers perceived that publication of information
through newspaper was very timely, while 25.31 per cent considered reasonable timely and 9.54 per
cent subscribers perceived that publication was not timely.
Majority i.e. 60.58 per cent subscribers opined that information was very accurate, whereas 32.37 per
cent felt that information was accurate and 7.05 per cent opined that information was somewhat accurate.
As regards the coverage of subject matter, 62.24 per cent perceived that newspaper had to some extent
done the coverage while 20.75 per cent felt that the coverage was sufficient and 17.01 per cent opined
that coverage was insufficient.
Data showed that 49.79 per cent subscribers perceived that information was clear while 44.81 per cent
felt that information was partially clear and 5.39 per cent perceived that information was not clear.
Half the respondents (50.21 %) opined that information given in the newspaper was to some extent
direct, while 42.74 per cent of them felt that information was direct where as 7.05 opined that information
was not all direct.
Data in respect of imaginativeness revealed that majority 68.05 per cent of the subscribers perceived
that information was factual, while 23.24 per cent opined that it was partially imaginative, whereas 8.71
per cent perceived that information was imaginative.
As regard the brevity of printed matter 66.39 per cent felt that information was somewhat concise while
2
1.99 per cent felt that information was lengthy and 11.62 per centfelt that information was concise.
About 58 per cent subscribers considered that content of newspaper was delightful, while 34.44 per cent
felt that it was some extent delightful and only 6.64 per cent considered that the context was insipid.
Thus it may be concluded that the content of newspaper was quite satisfactory, for readability,
understandability, timeliness, accuracy of information, clarity, imaginativeness and enjoyment in reading.
However, it needs improvement in credibility, practicability, terminology, coverage of subject matter,
directness and present findings briefly. These are in line with the findings quoted by Yadav (1981),
Athimutha (1982) andSirsat (1982).
(
b) Attitude of Farmers with regard to Agricultural Information:
The attitudes, of farmers, about published agricultural information are recorded in the following table
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RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
Table 2
Attitude of Farmers Towards Newspaper as a Source of Agricultural Information
From the above observation it was noted that, more than 50 per cent of the farmers expressed favorable
opinion towards the worthiness of agricultural information, whereas 36 per cent farmers had a mere
favorable in their view. It wasfound that no one expressed unfavourable opinion about newspaper giving
agricultural information.
(c) Corelates of Farmers Attitudes: Regression Analysis – The multiple regression analysis of farmers
attitudes towards agricultural information published in the newspapers on the independent variables in
the study is presented in Table 3.
The 15 independent variables explained the variability of farmers altitudes towards agricultural information
to the extent of 94.04 per cent the coefficient of determination being 0.9404. It wassatisfying to note that
the selected independent variables could explain the variability to such a large extent signifying the
relevancy and importance of the variables.
Table 3
Multiple Regression Analysis of Attitudes of Farmers towards Agricultural Information
+
R = 0.9404
= significant at 0.05 level of probability
NS
++
=
Not Significant
= significant at 0.01 level of probability
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RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
The factors like age, education, purpose of reading the newspaper, subscribing the newspaper depth in
reading, sources of gaining information on agricultural and perceived potential usefulness of agricultural
information of this print medium, were observed to be the important factors in determining the regression
of the dependent variables. The personal factors like age and education determined the farmers attitudes
negatively, meaning thereby that with the per unit increase in these variables, farmers attitudes towards
agricultural information of newspaper was decreasing. It was further observed that the variables related
to newspaper reading were more important determinant of the farmer’s attitude than the other personal
variables. It was further noted that the purpose of reading the newspaper was the most important
determinant (t = 8.205) of the farmers attitude towards newspaper agricultural information. With per unit
change in this variable, there was a change of 2.66 unit in the attitudes of the farmers. The sources of
agricultural information was another important factor to determine the variation in the farmer’s attitude
towards the agricultural information (t = 7.012). Every unit of change in the sources of agricultural
information could bring about 0.82 unit of change in the dependent variable.
The adoption of agricultural technology through reading newspaper could not show significance due to
high degree of their standard errors. The perceived potential usefulness of agricultural information published
in newspaper indicated a significant and negative. ‘t’ value of regression co-efficient probably because
the farmers holding such belief through the agricultural information appeared in the newspaper was
inadequate and not upto the mark.
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d) Adoption Influenced by Newspaper Reading: The usage, of data, regarding the agricultural
information,in actual field by the farmers after reading it thro’ the newspaper are indicated in the following
Table(4)
Table 4
Adoption Through Reading Newspaper
It was encouraging to note that nearly 72 per cent of farmers have given credit to the agricultural information
published in newspaper for its adoption by them. It was further observed that newspaper was more useful
to the farmers in giving information on plant protection (67.63 %) fertilizer application (60.58 %) cultivation
according to recommendation (60.16 %) and improved varieties of crops (56.84 %). The newspaper
information on agriculture has also been useful to certain extent in making the farmers accept vegetable
farming (34.43 %) and fruit crop cultivation (30.70 %). Although the newspaper has influenced the adoption
of new irrigation system to some extent (22.40 %) it could not achieve tangible results in inspiring the
farmers for trying drip irrigation method (8.29 %). This was probably because the technology of drip
irrigation requires more technical know-how skills and initial investment.
Conclusion:
Based on the findings of the study it can be concluded that sufficient space should be given to agricultural
information, and it should be publishedon time. There is necessity to minimize the difficult and technical
words and to use simple, short sentences which would create interest in reading. The journalists should
give attention to improve the quality of the newspaper in respect of credibility, practicability, terminology,
coverage of subject matter, directness and brevity. There is scope to publish agricultural information in
regional language newspaper so that it becomes more understandable, interesting and acceptable to
the farmers. It can also be concluded that newspaper plays an important role in popularizing the agricultural
practice of the farmers through its credible writing of agricultural journalism. Similar findings were recorded
by Hoffer (1945).
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References
RESEARCH HORIZONS, VOL. 5 JULY 2015
Athimuthu P. (1982): Content Analysis of Agricultural News in the two Tamil Dailies. M.Sc. Thesis TNAU,
Coimbatore
Hasan S. (1995) Content of Farm Magazines Communicator 30(4) Oct – Dec 28-32.
Hoffer C.R. (1945) Social Organization in relation to Extension Service: East Learning Michigan State
College
Jondhale S.G. (1988) Content Analysis of Farm Magazines of Exploratory Study, Ph.D. Thesis M.A.U.
Parbhani.
Kalantri L.B. & P.M. Lanjewar (1986) Utilization of Agricultural, published by the newspaper Among Farmnings
Mah J Ext Edn Vol. V.
KlapperJ.T. (1966) The Effect of Mass Communication, The Free Press, New York, 110.
Lawrence Robert (1965) “Rural Mimeo Newspapers’ Report and Paper on Mass Communication” No. 46,
UNESCO Paris.
Patel B.K. (1988) “A Study of Readership Pattern and Effectiveness of G.A.U.” Farm Magazine: Krishi-Go-
Vidya’ M.Sc. Thesis G.A.U. Anand
Patel S.M. (1982) “Content Analysis of Agricultural Information” published in Gujarat Samachar and Extent
utilized by the farmers M.Sc. Thesis G.A.U. Anand.
Sawant G.K. (1987) “Farm Advertisement in Marathi local and Regional Newspaper” : Mah J. of Ext. Edn,
Vol VI, pp 7-9.
Singh B.P. and Laharia N (1989) “News Paper Reading Behavior of Farmers”, Asian Regional Conference
on Educational Technology, Kerala.
Sirsat U.E. (1982) “A Study of Effectiveness of University Publication ‘Shetibhat” M.Sc. Thesis M.A.U.
Parbhani.
Yadav S. (1981) “A Study on Readability of the Leaflets in relation to H.Sc. Practices Among Rural Girls,
M.Sc. Thesis M.A.U. Hissar.
Dr. Harshada Rathod, Principal & Head, Dept. of Economics, Maniben Nanavati Women’s College,
Mumbai.
There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature,
reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines
them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.
Denis Diderot
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