Awareness and Usage of Social Media for Sourcing Agricultural Information by Youth Farmers in Ogori Mangogo Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

^*Adejo P.E., and Opeyemi G.

Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Kogi State University Anyigba, P.M.B. 1008, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria.

* Corresponding Author’s Contact Details: Email address ✉: adejo.pe@ksu.edu.ng, Phone No ☎: +234-0834760675

Accepted October 25, 2019

The study was undertaken to assess the awareness and usage of social media for sourcing agricultural information by youth farmers in Ogori Mangogo Local Government Area of Kogi state, Nigeria. Primary data was used for the study collected with the aid of structured questionnaires. The study employed a multi-staged random sampling technique to collect a total of One hundred and twenty respondents for the study. The Data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics, ordered probit regression and mean score. The findings showed that greater percentage of youth farmers were male (68.3%) and were in their productive age with a mean age of 36 years. The level of awareness of social media among youth farmersin the study area revealed that majority (70.0%) of the farmers were aware of social media, while only 21.7% use social media to source agricultural information. The result further revealed that facebook (71.7%) and whatsapp (53.3%) were the major types of social media use by the farmers in the study area. Estimates of the regression showed that age (p≤0.001), household size (p≤0.001), educational level (p≤0.001) farming experience (p≤0.001) and annual farm income (p≤0.001) were significant variables that influenced the level of usage of social media in the study area.The result indicated that high level of illiteracy, lack of technical know-how, financial difficulties/charges, among others were the major constraints facing the use of social media by the respondents as a means of sourcing agricultural information in the study area. The study recommended that government should provide infrastructures and social amenities in rural areas to encourage participation in agricultural activities in the rural areas.

Key words: Awareness, Social Media, Information, Youth Farmers, Nigeria.

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