Assessment of Socioeconomic Characteristics, Constraints, and Sources of Information Among Artisanal Fishers of Nwonyo Lake, Ibi, Taraba State, Nigeria

The study assessed the socioeconomic characteristics, constraints, and fishing information sources among artisanal fishers in Nwonyo Lake, Ibi, Taraba State, Nigeria. A multistage random sampling technique was adopted in selecting 80% of the artisanal fishers (respondents) to make a total sample size of 264 for the study. A structured questionnaire and scheduled interview were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using descriptive (frequency and percentages) and inferential statistics (Chi-Square). The results showed that artisanal fishers were mostly male (76.1%), ages 21-30 years (59.1%), single (44.3%), high level of secondary school certificates (49.6%), household sizes 3-4 (42.0%), 25.8% had between 6 and 10 years of experience in artisanal fishing. Fellow fishers (34.8%) were the major sources of information sources, reliable (47.3%), and preferred (49.3%) to the fishers. While the frequency of information daily was 53.8%. Age (0.008) had a significant (p<0.05) relationship with sources of information available to artisanal fishers. Similarly, age influenced the sources of information among fishers in the study area. The fishers could be trained in information management so that they can be the main source of reliable information. The study recommended that other information sources such as social media could be adequately utilized by the State Agricultural Development Programme as additional media for information dissemination regularly. Keywords: Extension, Information, Dissemination, Fishing community, Nwonyo Lake,