Market Information Seeking Behaviour of Rural Farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

On the premise that stakeholders in rural farmers development must understand the appropriate means of passing relevant information to farmers, this study examined the main sources of market information among rural farmers in Ogun State. It uses questionnaires to obtain quantitative and qualitative information relating to sources of marketing information, means of selling produce, place for selling produce, place for buying input and whether rural farmers in Ogun State do have up-takers for their produce. The study made use of purposive sampling of Ifo block, Simawa block, Ala block and Ado-Odo block to represent farmers from Abeokuta, Ikenne, Ijebu-Ode and Ilaro zones respectively. The results on the sources of market information were that 27.3% get marketing information from other farmers, 24.7% get information through personal enquiry, 7.3% through radio, 7.5% through buyers, 0.4% from TV, 13.7% through extension agents, 17.5% from farmers meeting and 1.5% through social media. The study concludes that rural farmers in Ogun State get market information from multiple sources. The dominant sources are other farmers, personal enquiry, extension agents and farmers meeting. The study recommends that useful information to farmers by relevant stakeholders should be through multiple choices and should include the use of extension agents and farmers' meetings.