An Evaluation of the Extent of National Agricultural Research Institutes’ Communication Strategies Regarding Farmers’ Awareness of Agricultural Technologies in South-West Nigeria

One of the National Agricultural Research Institutes' key responsibilities is information sharing to farmers. This study investigated selected NARIs’ deployed communication strategies in disseminating agricultural technologies information to farmers and evaluated farmers’ awareness level of agricultural technologies in adopted villages in southwest Nigeria. Based on perception theory, this study used an embedded mixed-methods research design with 575 farmers from three selected NARIs in southwest Nigeria: The Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, and the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research. Data were collected through key informant interviews and validated questionnaires. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically, whereas quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study found that NARIs in southwest Nigeria used various communication strategies to disseminate agricultural technologies to farmers. The study highlighted the impressive level of awareness regarding agricultural technologies. CRIN (x̅ = 3.68), IAR&T (x̅ = 3.73), and NIOMR (x̅ = 4.49). It concluded that the understanding of agricultural technologies, as conveyed by the NARIs' communication strategies, is effective, and recommended increasing awareness of agricultural technologies to promote effective use.