Effectiveness of Khetkhamar Program of Lokobetar for Disseminating Farm Information

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of 'Khetkhamar (agricultural)' program of the community radio ‘Lokobetar’ for disseminating farm information, explore the contribution of the selected characteristics of the listener farmers to their perceived effectiveness of Lokobetar; and determine the severity of problems faced by them in getting agricultural information through Lokobetar. Data were collected from randomly selected 110 listener farmers of this radio from ‘Sadar’ upazila of Barguna district. The majority (60.9%) of the listener farmers perceived moderate effectiveness, and the remaining 39.1% perceived high effectiveness. Again, the majority (62.5%) of the Agricultural Advisory Service Providers perceived moderate effectiveness, and rest 37.5% of them perceived high effectiveness of this agricultural radio program for disseminating farm information. Among the dimensions of effectiveness items, ‘timeliness of information’ ranked 1st followed by ‘adequacy of information’, ‘reliability of information’, and ‘usability of information’. ‘Time spent in farming’, ‘attitude towards Lokobetar, and ‘education’ of the Lokobetar listening farmers had a positive contribution to their perceived effectiveness of Lokobetar for disseminating farm information. ‘Lack of radio for listening’ ranked 1st problem, followed by ‘weakness of network/signal’, ‘limited time for broadcasting’, ‘lack of feedback facility after listening’, ‘lack of suitability of broadcasting time’, ‘lack of usability of information’, ‘lack of reliability of information’, ‘inadequacy of information’, and ‘obscurity of voice’. Based on these findings, it may be said that agricultural programs containing usable, dependable, and detailed information on innovations should be broadcast at a suitable time. Supplying radios to the listener farmers’ club, strengthening the network/signal capacity, increasing broadcasting time, and providing a feedback facility with the farmers can increase the effectiveness of the program for disseminating farm information.