Agro Sandesh newspaper reading behaviour of Banaskantha district farmers

Introduction

Mass media is most important communication media, which easily reach in interior areas and diffuse the message to larger section within the short span of time. It helps to narrow the gap between research results and their application by farmers. In mass media, print media are cheaper in cost and cover large number of people. It is one of most credible sources of information and increased literacy level. It could also be effective media in changing perception, attitude and actions of people when they are literates. Newspaper is one of the cost-effective and appropriate media to transfer the knowledge. Information on agriculture and allied sectors should be brought out from the four walls of a room to the society and the nation through newspapers. Sandesh is leading daily newspaper and found in 1923. The Agro Sandesh was launched at 3 rd July 2011 and it is published on every Monday. The present study was carried out to find out the Agro Sandesh newspaper reading behaviour of Banaskantha district farmers

Objectives

To study reading behaviour of Agro Sandesh readers.

Methodology

Present study was conducted in Banaskantha district of North Gujarat. Among fourteen talukas of Banaskantha, three talukas viz.; Palanpur, Deesa, Deodar were purposively selected because under these three talukas maximum number of Sandesh newspaper distribute as compared to other talukas. The farmers of Agro Sandesh readers were the respondents for the study. Five villages from each taluka were selected randomly. From each selected villages ten farmers were selected randomly; thus total 150 farmers sample size was selected for study. An expost-facto research design was applied. Objective wise structural schedule was prepared and for data collection a personal contact method was followed. Data was analyzed with using frequency and percentage.

Results and Discussion

Reading behaviour has been operationally defined as a kind or style prevalent in reading farm literature. It is an important factor, which influence upon extent of the agricultural information. The findings are presented in the following sequence. Under each characteristic the respondents are further grouped according to their reading behaviour. The data are presented in Table 1 to 13. It was observed from above Table 1 that 100 per cent respondent had habit of reading Agro Sandesh. Table 2, shows that most of i.e. 58.00 per cent of respondents was not read Agro Sandesh newspaper every week, while 42.00 per cent the respondents read Agro Sandesh newspaper every week. Table 5 indicated that 36.67 per cent respondents read Agro Sandesh for getting agriculture information, followed by 20.00 per cent were read Agro Sandesh for gain knowledge, 16.00 per cent were read Agro Sandesh for educational information, 14.67 per cent for to keep up the reading habit, 6.66 per cent for employment and 6.00 per cent were read Agro Sandesh for time pass. It is revealed from Table 6 that majority (65.33 per cent) of the respondents were having habit of discussing the information with family members or other friends after reading, while 34.67 per cent respondents did not discuss information, they read in Agro Sandesh. It is observed from Table 7 that majority (40.67 per cent) of the respondents read newspaper at neighbour's house, whereas 37.33 per cent of them read newspaper at common places and only 22.00 per cent respondents read newspaper at their home purchased by themselves. 8 it was observed that (49.33 per cent) Agro Sandesh reader had medium level reading preference, followed by 27.37 per cent had high and only 23.33 per cent had low level reading preference. Table 9 indicated that 62.00 per cent respondents were store information by only reading, 36.67 per cent respondents were stored information by discussion and 1.33 per cent store knowledge by cutting important news which information published in newspaper. It was observed from above Table 10 that majority 72.67 per cent respondents were satisfied after reading agriculture information, while 27.33 per cent were not satisfied after reading the agriculture information.

Habit of reading Agro Sandesh

Frequency of reading Agro Sandesh

Interest of reading Agro Sandesh

Reason of reading

Discussion of Information

Location of reading

Reading preference

Storage of knowledge

Satisfaction after reading

Re-read Agro Sandesh newspaper

Practicality of Agro Sandesh information

All over Reading behaviour

The respondents were classified into three groups of reading behaviour viz. (i) low reading behaviour (ii) medium reading behaviour and (iii) High reading behaviour on the basis of table 1 to 12 their overall reading behaviour scores. From Table 13 it was observed that 63.33 per cent of Agro Sandesh readers had medium level of reading behaviour, followed by 22.00 per cent had low level of reading behaviour and only 14.67 per cent had high level of reading behaviour. The similar finding has been reported by Singh and Singh (2014) [7] .

Conclusion

In conclusion, the findings reveal that Agro Sandesh enjoys a broad readership, with the majority of respondents regularly reading the newspaper, albeit occasionally and based on convenience. A significant proportion of readers access the newspaper for agricultural information and engage in discussions about the content with family and friends. While many readers spend an hour or less per session, a substantial number find the information practical for field implementation and express satisfaction with the agricultural news. Additionally, most readers demonstrate a medium level of reading behavior and retention, though many do not re-read past issues. Overall, Agro Sandesh effectively serves as a valuable source of agricultural information, with a notable level of engagement and practicality among its readers.

References

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