ASSESSING FARMERS' AWARENESS, TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION, BARRIERS, AND EFFECTIVE MEDIA SOURCES IN AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Abstract

Radio, television and newspapers are some of the most effective media of journalism to accelerate farming population on appropriate track of their agricultural works. The ex-post facto explanatory study was conducted at Dumuria upazila of Khulna district to analyze the role of journalism and to identify the most effective mass media with their hindering factors which block the role of journalism for disseminating agricultural innovations as well as the level of awareness and adoption of these innovations. The study results point out that the majority of the farmers (74.55%) had the highest awareness regarding TV about the reliability and significance of different media sources of news, followed by newspaper (46.67%) and radio (41.81%). Television (70.30%) is also determined to have the highest adoption rate for learning about new agricultural technologies among the respondents, with newspaper (18.48%) and radio (14.85%) coming in second and third position. “Economic condition to afford TV”, “illiteracy of the farmer” and “Bad signal and internet problem” were found to be the most significant hindering factors of television, newspapers and radio, respectively, to block the role of agricultural journalism. Television (74.14%) was determined to be the most effective mass media outlet for agricultural journalism, with radio (28.77%) and newspapers (22.74%) coming in as the respondents' second and third-place selections. Television was found to be the most effective medium for disseminating agricultural innovations among farmers in Dumuria upazila, despite economic, literacy, and technical barriers affecting its accessibility.