INFORMATION NEEDS AND ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS INVOLVING IN MUSHROOM PRODUCTION IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the information needs of mushroom farmers in Oyo State. Two sampling procedure was used to select 143 mushroom farmers for this study. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics such as Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study shows that (38.5%) of the respondents were between the ages of 35 and 44 years. Also, (62.9%) were males. Majority (81.8%) of the respondents were married. Radio is the most common source of information available to farmers (97.2%) in the study area. On the overall, mean score (76.10) were classified as high information needs. Majority (63.6%) of the farmers doesn’t have access to information on mushroom production, consequently this have led to low mushroom production in the study area. Therefore, There is need to improve and intensify on extension contact and other information source available to mushroom farmers in order to improve mushroom production in the study area.