Effect of elements of communication on effectiveness of poultry technology

messages in Delta State, Nigeria

Keywords:
Elements of communication, technology message, poultry, effectiveness,
Prevention motivation theory, Delta State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT:


This study was carried out to ascertain the effect of elements of
communications on effectiveness of poultry technology messages in Delta State,
Nigeria. A sample size of 180 poultry farmers and 46 extension agents were randomly
selected and used for the study. The findings showed that the poultry technology
messages communicated to farmers included climate change adaptation measures,
poultry waste management, bird flu prevention, prevention of predators and exotic
breeds of broiler and layer birds. All the elements of communication such as source
(sender), message, channel, and receiver had positive correlation with effectiveness
of poultry technology messages. There is a need to sustain the use of a combination
of channels, various elements in the communication process should be seriously
considered in message designs, its execution and extension agents. Poultry farmers
should be encouraged to improve on their role performance.
071-077 | JRA | 2012 | Vol 2 | No 1

This article is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/2.0), which gives permission for unrestricted use, non-commercial, distribution and
reproduction in all medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
www.jagri.info
Journal of Research in
Agriculture
An International Scientific
Research Journal
Authors:
Ofuoku AU
1
, Emah GN
2

and Isife BI
2
.

Institution:
1.Department of Agricultural
Economics and Extension,
Delta State University,
Asaba Campus, Asaba, Delta
State, Nigeria.

2.Department of Agricultural
Economics and Extension,
Rivers State University of
Science and Technology,
Port Harcourt, Rivers State,
Nigeria.



Corresponding author:
Ofuoku AU.









Email:
ofuoku@yahoo.com




Web Address:
http://www.jagri.info
documents/AG0010.pdf.


Dates:
Received: 13 Dec 2011 Accepted: 20 Jan 2012 Published: 23 May 2012
Article Citation:
Ofuoku AU, Emah GN and Isife BI.
Effect of elements of communication on effectiveness of poultry technology messages
in Delta State, Nigeria.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077
Original Research
Journal of Research in Agriculture
J
o
u
r
n
a
l

o
f

R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h

i
n

A
g
r
i
c
u
l
t
u
r
e

An International Scientific Research Journal


INTRODUCTION
Communication is fundamental to any teaching
learning situation, hence learning process and
dissemation of information or messages cannot be
explained without reference to communication
(Okunade, 2005). It is a cardinal instrument for
promoting knowledge flow, for information
dissemination and of effective extension services
(Adedoyin, 1997). Communication can therefore, be
defined as the transfer of information or message from a
source to a receiver. Adigin (2003) explains that it
involves exchange of information, from one person to
another through a uniform and common system of signs,
symbols, and behaviour. Effective communication
therefore, takes place only when the receiver of a coded
message is able to decode it and act accordingly.
Oladosu (2003) defined communication in
extension as a process of interaction to transmit ideas,
information technology and feedback from one person to
another, which results in a changed situation.
Communication is a process that involves the exchange
of ideas between two or more persons in an attempt to
arrive at convergence in meaning.
According to James (1990), communication is a
process involving the passing of message form one
person to the other through the use of symbols which all
parties in the communication process understand.
Communication process involves the elements of
communication such as the sender, medium, channel,
and the receiver. The message being transferred move
from one element to the other until it gets to the receiver
and back to the sender.
An effective message is a concise statement
whose purpose is to prompt an audience to act in a way
that supports organizational goals. It is simple to
understand and avoids relying on confusing issue
specific jargon. Hunt (2006) suggests that message is
effective if it is brief, straight forward statement aswed
on an analysis of what will persuade a particular
audience.
Poultry technology message stems from
development communication. Poultry technology
message are therefore those in which poultry farmers and
other stakeholders in agriculture interact through planned
use of strategies and processes of communication with
the goal of achieving agricultural development. To reach
and have a significant impact on farming audience
requires an appropriate and culturally relevant poultry
technology message that is based on thorough knowledge
and understanding of the target farming audience.
Ofuoku (2010) opines that a lot of fund is being
spent on basic and applied agricultural researches, yet
agricultural sector has not been able to meet nations
requirement for food, and poultry products in particular.
This may have been occasioned by factors of messages
to farmers. The question to be asked then is to ascertain
the effectiveness of poultry technologies developed by
research institutes that are being made available to
farmers. Owing to some problems and uncertainties
relating to how agriculture and animal production could
be improved among poultry farmers, in order to meet up
with the nations food requirement, the Nigerian
governments have been prompted to set up agricultural
development programmes. This has the objectives of
improving the production level of crop, livestock and
poultry farmers quantitatively and raising their income
and standard of living thereby ensuring self-sufficiency.
In trying to achieve this objective among poultry
farmers, Delta State Agricultural Development
Programmes (DTADPs) extension agents communicate
agricultural technology messages to the poultry farmers
using various communication strategies or media. Inspite
of these efforts, poultry products are not readily available
to everyone. This prompts a study of this nature. The
results of this study will be of benefit to the public
(DTADP) and private extension agencies and non-
governmental organizations that are involved in
extension services as it will form a guide for them while
072 Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077
Ofuoku et al., 2012
developing poultry and other agricultural technology
messages to be communicated to farmers in the future.
Objectives of the Study
The major objectives of this study was to
examine the effect of elements of communication on
effectiveness of poultry technology messages in Delta
State, Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives of the study
were;
1. To identify the poultry production
technology messages communicated to farmers;
2. To determine the influence of elements of
communication on effectiveness of poultry production
technology messages.

METHODOLOGY
This study was carried out in Delta State,
Nigeria. It is located in the Niger Delta Region of
Nigeria and lies approximately between longitude 5
0
00
and 6
0
45 east and latitude 5
0
00 and 6
0
45 east and
latitude 5
0
00 and 6
0
30 north of the equator. The state
consists of 25 Local Government Areas and has a total
land area of 17,698 square kilometers with a population
of 2,570,181 people (NPC, 1993).
The state is naturally divided into South, Central
and North Agro-ecological Zones based on the
vegetative cover. The Delta State Agricultural
Development Programme (DTADP), the major
agricultural extension agency in line with
aforementioned demarcated into north, central and south
agricultural zones.
Apart from tree crops like oil palm, rubber and
fruit trees, arable crops are widely cultivated by the
people. A lot of poultry farms abound in the state and
neighbouring states depend on Delta State for supply of
poultry products.
The population of the study included all poultry
farmers that were registered with DTADP and all the
village extension agents of (DTADP). Random sampling
method was employed to select respondents form among
the poultry farmers registered with the three DTADP
zonal headquarters on the basis of 10% from each zone.
This gave a total of 180 poultry farmers. The extension
agents covering their various blocks were purposively
isolated and forty six (46) extension agents were
resulted from then. Consequently, this gave a total of two
hundred and twenty-six (226) respondents that were used
for the study.
Primary data used for the study were collected
from the respondents using questionnaire and structured
interview schedule. Test-retest method was used to test
the reliability of the instrument. The results of the
correlation between the first and the second responses
showed a high level of correlation for structured
interview schedule (r = 0.9310 and the questionnaire (r =
0.951).
Data for the study were analyzed with the use of
descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages.
The influence of the elements of communication on
message effectiveness (objective ii) was analyzed using
multiple regression model. The multiple regression
model was implicitly specified as follows:

Y = f (X
1
+ X
2
+ X
3
+ X
4
X
11
)
Y = f (X
1
= X
1a
+ X
1b
+ X
1n
+ X
2
= X
2a

+ X
2b
+ X
2n
+ X
3
= X
3a
+

X
3b
+ X
4
= X
4a
+ X
4b

.. X
4n
)
Where Y=Level of effectiveness of poultry farming
borne in the messages.
X
1
=Source (total mean score of farmers
perception of EAS relationship with farmers,
communication behaviour and skill and role
performance)
X
2
=Message; (Total mean score of farmers
perception on relative advantage, compatibility,
complexity, triability observability of the technology
borne in message.
X
3
=Channel; (Total mean score of farmers
perception of channels of communication was used.
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077 073
Ofuoku et al., 2012


X
4
=Receiver (total mean score of farmers human
relation, communication behavior).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Poultry production technology messages
communicated as reported by farmers
Table 1 indicates that 92.2% of the farmers
received messages on poultry waste recycling; 100% on
health management (bird flu prevention and control);
97.2%, climate change adaptation method; 100% on
constants supply of water and 78.3% on prevention of
predators using garlic. On exotic breeds, 25% of the
farmers received messages on Abro, 6.7% on Abroracre,
while 28.3% on Hubbard strains.
Tree planting messages were transmitted to the
farmers so as to reduce the excessive heat from the sun
by providing shades for poultry pens hence the birds.
Heat prompts heat stress on the birds. According to
Izunobi (2003) a substantial increase in environmental
temperature will reduce growth rate, reduce egg
production and size and eggs will have poor quality
shell.
The trees also reduce the effect of wind on
poultry pens and installation of fans is also meant to
reduce heat in the pens. Excessive wind known as wind
hedge poses inescapable problem to many poultry farms
in the southern coastline to the northern Sahara fringe
(Izunobi, 2002).
Constant supply of water to the chicken reduces
heat stress. The water, especially when cool reduces the
body temperature to the normal level required by
chickens. Waste management messages are meant to
profer solution for the problem of waste (droppings)
disposal. The waste when recycled in the form of manure
is beneficial for growing crops and reduces effect of
effluents from the droppings on the climate.
Bird flu prevention and control messages were
sent to the farmers to prevent the outbreak of it in their
farms, especially when the disease is zoonotic. On the
prevention of predator such as snakes, messages on the
use of sliced garlic were sent to the farmers for the
prevention of snakes from entering the pen. This method
is environmental friendly, especially in the era of
environmental awareness vis a viz climate change.
Messages on the exotic breeds of chickens were
sent to the farmers because of their superior qualities of
fast growth and productivity in terms of meat and eggs.
The one mentioned are superior to the pure breeds as
they are hybrids of the pure exotic breeds.
Effects of elements of communication on effectiveness
of poultry technology messages
The linear function (Table 2) was adopted and
presented. The choice of the lenear equation was based
074 Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077
Ofuoku et al., 2012
Messages Frequency
Percentage
(%)
Climate change
adaptation methods





Tree planting 175 97.2
Installation of fans 166 92.2
Constant supply of fresh
water
180 100.0
Waste management
Recycling 166 92.2
Health Management
Bird flu prevention 180 100.0
Prevention of predators
Use of sliced garlic 141 78.3
Exotic breeds of
chicken

Broilers
Abro 45 25.0
Arboracre 12 6.7
Hubbard 51 28.3
Layers
Harco 43 23.9
Isa brown 34 18.9
Shower Star Cross 24 13.3
Black Olympia 33 18.3
Table 1: Poultry production technology messages
communicated by farmers
on the magnitude of the coefficient of determination (R
2
)
the number of significant variables and the conformity of
the sign borne by the variables to a prior expectation.
The table reveals an R
2
value of 0.708. This implies that
an increase in efficiency of these variables, ceteries
paribus would lead to increase in effectiveness of the
poultry production technology messages.
The source (sender) (X
1
) factor was found to be
positively correlated with effectiveness of the poultry
technology messages and significant at 5% level of
significance. This means that more the senders of
poultry technology messages exhibit characteristics of a
good verbal and non-verbal communication skills, good
knowledge of the poultry technologies (subject matter);
ability to understand the poultry farmers in terms of their
educational level, cultural norms and beliefs; possession
of favourable attitude towards the poultry technology
messages, and the poultry technology messages, and the
farmers (receivers) and awareness of time limits not to
over burden his/her audience with too much information
within a short time. This agrees with Agbamu (2006) and
Olowu (1989) who stated that more the sender of
messages shows the signs of a good communicator, the
more effective his/her message will be.
The message (X
2
) also positively correlated with
its effectiveness. This is attributed to the clarity of the
poultry production technology messages as to purpose,
content and treatment. Purpose, content and treatment are
the three major components of a message (Agbamu,
2006). According to Agbamu (2006), the purpose of
message indicates the objectives of communicating a
message stating change in knowledge, skill or attitude of
the receiver, and this purpose must be borne in mind.
The content of a message which includes statements,
arguments and appeals should be relevant to the receiver
so that he feels it is something he can accept. The
treatment of message involves how the sender orders or
arranges the content, variation of sentence, length and
pattern in order to prevent muddling. Treatment has to do
with the way message is handled to get the information
across the audience. It implies that the senders logically
organized the messages leading from the simple to the
complex and the messages conformed to acceptable
social standard. It also means that the poultry technology
messages fit the level of understanding of the poultry
farmers and aroused a set of needs and suggested ways to
satisfy the needs in ways appropriate to norms and values
of poultry farmers. The content of the message also
should be triable, have relatively advantage over
previous ones and should be observable.
Channels (X
3
) positively correlated with
effectiveness of the messages. This is as a result of the
fact that the senders (extension agents) used a
combination of channels that appealed to different senses
of the poultry farmers. This is congruent with Agbamu
(2006) who argues that experience has shown that a
combination of channels that are appealing to different
sences, appear to be more effective in disseminating
messages to farmers. The types of communication
channels the extension agents used were also determined
by the poultry farmers capability, nature of the subject
matter, availability and cost of such channels.
Receivers (X
4
) factor similarly correlated with
effectiveness of the poultry technology messages. This
means that the more a receiver exhibits some
Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077 075
Ofuoku et al., 2012
Variables Co-efficient Std Error T-Value
Constant 0.997 0.320 3.115*
Source (X
1
) 6.542E
-02
0.014 4.661*
Message (X
2
) 0.427 0.070 6.101*
Channel (X
3
) 9.047E
-02
0.000025 3.648*
Receiver
(X
4
)
0.156 0.017 9.176*
R
2
= 0.708
F = 98.287
Table 2: Parameter estimate of the effects of elements
of communication on message effectiveness


communication skills, the more effective the technology
messages will be. This is because the poultry farmers
(receivers) attended to the transmitted poultry technology
messages, interpreted them accurately and accepted
them. Elements of attention, comprehension and
acceptance are essential for successful message delivery
(Wilcox, 1977). This supports Olowu (1989) who
discovered a relationship between receivers factor and
effectiveness of communication.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The poultry technology messages communicated
to the farmers included climate change adaptation
measures, waste recycling, bird flu prevention,
prevention of predators, and exotic breeds of chickens.
The extension agents were very good in human
relations and communications skill, but poor in role
performance. All the messages were compatible with the
farmers culture, had relative advantage over previous
ones used, simple to use, triable and observable, the
contents of the messages were relevant to the farmers
hence appealed to them. The messages were logically
organized and not lengthy. They were packaged
according to the level of understanding of the poultry
farmers.
The channels used were effective and a
combination of them were utilized. The farmers had
good human relation, and communication skill, but poor
in role performance.
Conclusively, all the elements of communication
contributed to effectiveness of poultry technology
messages.
Considering the findings, it is recommended that:
1. The use of a combination of channels in message
passage should be sustained.
2. The various elements of communications involved in
the process of communication should be seriously put
into consideration when messages are being packaged for
poultry farmers.
3. Extension agents and poultry farmers should be
encouraged to improve on their role performances.

REFERENCES
Adedoyin SF. 1997. The dumb professor concept: an
articulation of import communication in extension
education Nigerian Development Journal. 1:26-35.

Adigin D. 2003. Some features of communication in
transition Journal of Contemporary Issues 2 (1):71-76.
Agbamu JU. 2006. Essentials of agricultural
communication in Nigeria . Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd.

Hunt JG. 2006. Defining an effective message.
Technical Assistance Bulletin. Washington, D.C.CSAP.

James S. 1990. Business communication. London: Green
Wood Publications.

NPC. 1993. Provisional census figures, 1991 national
population census. Abuja: National Population
Commission.

Ofuoku AU. 2010. Communication process and
effectiveness of agricultural technology messages in
poultry production in Delta State, Nigeria, Unpublished
PhD post findings seminar document. Rivers State
University of Science and Technology, Port Harcout.

Oladosu IO. 2003. Review of basic concepts in
communication for introducing, change programme.
Ogbomosho: Age Publications.

Okunade EO. 2005. Impact of Extension agents
communication skill on the adoption of improved farm
technology in Ife/Ijesa Agricultural Zone of Osun State,
Nigeria. In proceedings of the 10
th
Annual National
Conference of the Agricultural Extension Society of
Nigeria. Held March 4-8, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria. 12-
16.

Olowu TA. 1989. Extension communication strategies:
role of communication in forest protection. Paper
076 Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077
Ofuoku et al., 2012
presented at the National Workshop on Forestry
Extension Services, at the Manpower Development
Centre, Oluwa, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Izunobi ND. 2003. Poultry husbandry. Ihiala, Nigeria.
Mgbe-Bpp Publishing House.

Wilcox RE. 1977. Communication work: Writing work:
Writing and speaking Boston, USA: Houghton Mifflin.


Journal of Research in Agriculture (2012) 1: 071-077 077
Ofuoku et al., 2011
Submit your articles online at www.jagri.info

Advantages
Easy online submission
Complete Peer review
Affordable Charges
Quick processing
Extensive indexing
You retain your copyright


submit@jagri.info

www.jagri.info/Sumit.php.