ABSTRACT
The study examined relevant factors in determining information sources preference
among rubber farmers in in Edo State, Nigeria with emphasis on their relevance in
community development. The study objectives were to identify the socio-economic
characteristics of rubber farmers in the study area; and identify the various sources of
information on agrochemicals available to rubber farmers in the study area A 3-stage
sampling procedure was used to select respondents. The primary data used in this study
were obtained from field surveyed through the use of structured questionnaire
administered to 180 respondents. Data were analyzed using frequency counts,
percentages, means and standard deviation and logit regression and t-test. Results
indicate that respondents were middle age 30 and 50 years dominated by the males
(72.6%), a majority (69.0%) having Secondary School Certificate, with (44.0%) having
a farm size of between 6 and 10 hectares. Result showed that respondents preferred
channel of information through which farmers in Edo State receive their information is
through farmers’ cooperative societies, neighbours, agro processor, manufacturers,
retailers, and phone calls. Result showed that farming experience (wald = 2.48) and
estimated income (wald = 2.55) at 5% level are critical variables that had great
significant influence on their preference for information sources in rubber plantation.
The study recommends that Also, industrial policy should encourage capacity building
for rubber based industries and provide incentives such as loans, tax holidays and to
revitalize the moribund rubber processing industries in Edo state to enable them remain
in the business. The extension agent should further explain better on the adoption of the
new technologies through the use of other forms of teachings like the demonstration
method, training and visit systems to encourage the farmers to adopt them
KEYWORDS:Natural drug formulation, onion, unripe lemon, garlic, environmental chemistry, medical collaboration, sustainability, pharmaceutical development
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