Assessment of the use of mobile phone as an information communication channel among fish farmers in Lagos State, Nigeria

抄録

The application of mobile telephones in fish farming seems to be moving gradually towards to effective and efficient to the farmers. Problem faced by fish farmers for getting agricultural information have been made easier, cheaper and faster by the use of mobile phones. The study examined the assessment of the use of mobile phone as an information communication channel among fish farmers in Lagos state, Nigeria. The research design was subjected for a survey in which data was obtained from 160 registered fish farmers in Lagos state, comprising of Epe and Badagry Local Government Areas who were purposively selected for the study. The survey instrument used was questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyse data. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were male with average age of 43 years and married with average years of fish farming experience of 12 years. It was further revealed that all the respondents had access to mobile phones. The mobile phone services that are majorly used by respondents is the phone call, SMS, flashing and radio. They majorly use this services to access information mainly on feed, fish processing/preservation, drugs, fingerling, equipment, and fish harvesting/ techniques from majorly extension agent, input service provider and colleagues. However, the use of mobile phones was constrained by the problem of low quality from services provider, high cost of mobile phone, fluctuating services and erratic power supply. The study recommended that national telecommunication policy and supporting infrastructure should be established to support mobile phone technical services to reduce fluctuating services and provision of adequate power supply to enhance fish farming production in the Lagos state.