Communication of improved farm practices to rural women farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

A study was conducted to investigate the communication process through which the extension workers of Benue Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA) disseminate improved farm practices to rural women farmers. A total of 250 women farmers who were in contact with the extension services were randomly selected and interviewed. The results showed that 90% of them recognized personal contacts, group meetings of farmers, and method-and-result demonstration sites as channels through which they communicated with the extension workers. There was a positive and significant interaction effect between the frequency of contacts the rural women contact farmers had with the extension workers and some of their socioeconomic characteristics: education (b = 0.91); farm size (b = 0.117); and knowledge of extension worker's office by the rural women contact farmers (b = 0.48).