The Use of Agricultural Media among Thai Farmers

Abstract

                   This study aimed to examine the current state of agricultural media using and needs of these media among Thai farmers. A sample size of 400 farmers was initially taken for the study and analyzed, Sample random sampling technique was use in this study and questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results were found that the majority of Thai farmers used television for agricultural benefits (92.80%), followed by radio (48.80%) and newspapers (40.80%). According to the result, it can be inferred that television was the most popular medium used by farmers for agricultural benefits, specifically farmers who were married and had the average monthly income of 5,001-10,000 Baht. Alternatively, radio was mostly used by farmers who were 41-45 years of age and completed primary education; and newspapers were prevalent in farmers aged 41-45 years. The result demonstrates the farmers’ level of demand for informative media to increase agricultural productivity. The results indicated that television had the highest level of demand at the mean value of 4.22. Meanwhile, internet, radio, and newspapers had a high level of demand at the mean values of 3.53, 3.46, and 3.41, respectively. In addition, when considered according to the demographic characteristics of farmers, There were no significant differences between farmers’ gender, age, educational level, marital status, and number of family members in the demand for television at the significance level of 0.05; There were significant differences between farmers’ average monthly income in the demand for television at the significance level of 0.05; There were significant differences between farmers’ gender, age, educational level, marital status, number of family members, and average monthly income in the demand for radio, newspapers, magazine, book, journal, internet, brochure/newsletter, and poster/leaflet at the significance level of 0.05. farmers who completed primary education had a higher level of demand for radio than farmers who completed secondary education and Bachelor’s degree. On the contrary, farmers who completed secondary education had a higher level of demand for internet than farmers who completed primary education. Interestingly, farmers who attained vocational/higher vocational education had a higher demand for book, internet, and poster/leaflet than farmers who attained primary education. Meanwhile, farmers who completed Bachelor’s degree had a higher demand for journal to increase agricultural productivity than farmers who completed vocational/higher vocational education.

                   Nonetheless, upon the consideration of individuals who played a significant role in providing agricultural information to the household, According to the result, people outside the family played a more important role in providing agricultural information than family members, which can be ranked in the order of importance as Agricultural promotion officers (45.20%), Farmer groups (42.80%), Neighbors (38.80%) and Community leaders (33.20%). Alternatively, people in the family who played an important role in providing agricultural information to the household can be ranked in the order of importance, as Farmers (36.00%) and Husband/Wife (31.20%).

                    The most popular period of which farmers were able to receive agricultural information were before and after engaging in agricultural activities, specifically during 18.01-21.00 hrs. (44.50%), 6.00-10.00 hrs. (41.50%), and 16.01-18.00 hrs. (17.20%). farmers had different opinions towards the problems of accessing agricultural information. Nonetheless, the majority of items were moderately agreed by farmers, which can be ranked in the order of mean values as Problems concerning the fact that in-depth information are more important than the overview (mean = 3.37); Problems concerning the fact that television and radio programs often broadcast agricultural information during the period of which farmers are unable to watch/listen, and agricultural promotion officers lack access to farmers’ cultivated areas (mean = 3.15); Problems concerning the fact that the contents lack details and information (mean = 3.12); Problems of one-way communication in which farmers are unable to communicate with the source of information (mean = 3.04) and Problems concerning the fact that farmers have to spend money in order to obtain useful agricultural information (mean = 3.03).