| dc.description.abstract | Farmers, agricultural programs, agricultural institutions and non governmental
institutions are utilizing web 2.0 applications and platforms to disseminate
agricultural information. The study’s main objective was to investigate the use of
social media as a source of agricultural information with reference to farmers in
Kiambu County. The specific objectives were to find out the information needs of
farmers in Kiambu County; establish information seeking behavior of the farmers in
Kiambu County; determine the accessibility and utilization of agricultural information
from social media among farmers in Kiambu County; and examine the challenges
experienced in accessing agricultural information from social media by farmers in
Kiambu County. The research design used was descriptive survey so as to understand
more about the phenomena. The qualitative methods that were used include
interviews of key informants and a focus group of farmers who use these social media
platforms. Purposive sampling was used to arrive at a sample of farmers in the study
area. Both descriptive statistics and content analysis were employed in data analysis.
Themes were developed as per the study objectives, and data from the various tools
synthesized and triangulated. From the analysis, it can be deduced that agricultural
information is highly required among a majority of farmers in the study area. The
study further deduced that farmers in the study area source for agricultural
information from a variety of sources, key among which include the internet, social
media and extension services. From the study it can be inferred that a majority of
farmers approach the use of social media in agricultural information seeking with a
positive attitude, pointing to the assumption that social media is largely beneficial and
convenient as a source of agricultural information. Among the most common
challenges faced include poor network access, power outages, and costly charges
when accessing the internet. This study recommends that centers can be established in
Kiambu County whereby farmers can obtain agricultural information online and that
social media should be fully utilized to provide; feedback, complement extension
programs, access local and international markets and complement communication
campaigns whose goal is to bring about agricultural development. | en_US |
