Farmers’ utilization of social media to access agricultural information

This study examined how farmers utilize social media to access agricultural information. A snowball sampling technique was employed to obtain 182 out the targeted 1,000 respondents, and data were collected using a Google Form questionnaire. The responses were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results reveal that, farmers primarily used WhatsApp and Facebook to access agricultural information, whereas platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram were used less frequently or not at all. The main types of accessed information included agricultural inputs, livestock production, market information, pest and disease management, agricultural finance, crop production, and value addition. The identified key challenges were limited search skills, poor network connectivity, lack of content quality control, insufficient power supply, and data cost. A negative relationship was observed between the age and social media utilization. In conclusion, social media plays a significant role in farmers’ access to agricultural information, although its effective use is affected by the platform preference, user age, and infrastructural limitations. Keywords: agricultural information; farmer; social media; utilization