FACTORS INFLUENCING FARMER’S USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITIES IN NORTH WEST NIGERIA

This study determined the factors influencing social media usage for farmer’s livelihood in north-west Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 369 respondents using social media which constitute the sample size of the study. Data used for the study were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire which was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result of the study revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 40 years, majority (80% and 84%) of the respondents from the study area were male and married with the average household size of 6 people. Most (94%) of them had one form of formal education or the other and the mean annual income of N928188.00. Results of regression analysis revealed that age (P<0.01), educational attainment (P<0.01), cooperative membership (P<0.10) and access to credit (P<0.10) were found to significantly influence the usage of social media for livelihood activities among the farmers. Results further revealed that the challenges to the use of social media for livelihood activities includes reliability and authenticity of online information (52%), hacking of social media accounts (49%) and cyber bullying (46%) among others. The study concluded that use of social media platform has influenced on the livelihood of the farmers in the study area and its usage is influenced by age, education, membership of cooperative societies and access to credit. Hence the recommended that farmers should be encouraged to explore all online avenues to access extension services that could improve their livelihoods