ABSTRACT
This study examined the channels of communication among the incubatees in FG-IFAD LIFE-ND in Edo state. The specific objectives were to; describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the incubatees, identify the various agricultural enterprises practiced by the incubatees and the reasons for their choices, ascertain the perceived effectiveness of the communication channels used, determine the incubatees level of accessibility of communication channels used and identify the constraints to the use of identified communication channels.
Selection was done using a systematic random sampling. This method involved picking every "kth" person from the list of all the registered incubatees. A pre-survey was carried out to determine the sample size of this study. Data for this study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were obtained through the use of structured questionnaire administered through interview schedule to 128 randomly selected respondents from the study area. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, Multiple regression, ANOVA and Duncan test.
Results from the descriptive statistic showed that majority (71.09%) of the respondents were male, and 64.06% were unmarried, 69.53% were Christians and 100% respondents had acquired formal education. The mean age, mean household size and mean average monthly income were 36years, 6 members and N80,000 respectively. The average years of farming experience was 10years. Poultry production (29.69%) had the highest selection among the enterprises, followed by fishery (26.56%), cassava (24.22%) and rice (10.16%). The result also showed that 52.34% of the respondents stated that they chose the program due to its lucrativeness.
Face-to-face (86.72%), fortnight meetings (85.16%) and demonstration (79.69%) were observed to be the communication channels with the highest level of effectiveness while telephone (100%), fortnight meetings (100%), demonstration (100%) and face-to-face (98.44%) had the highest level of accessibility, showing high adoption of verbal communication channel.
Level of noise (mean=2.82), clarity of the message(mean=2.55), distraction in the environment (mean=2.54) and cost of the channel (mean=2.51) were the identified constraints to the utilization of communication channels.
Results of the multiple regressions showed significant relationship between selected socio-economic characteristics of respondents, farming experience (p<0.05) and average income per month (p<0.01) and the use of communication channels. The study concludes that farming experience and average monthly income have a significant relationship with the usage of communication channel.
The result also showed that there was no significant difference in the communication channels available to the incubatees. This implies that the sampled beneficiaries of different enterprises have access to the same communication channels.
This study recommended that face-to-face and demonstration as channels of communication should be highly encouraged in programmes in order to pass clear and profitable information.
