Information Sourcing Patterns of Rural Farmers for Agricultural Production in Nigeria’s Covid-19 Era.

The outbreak of COV/D-19 has posed a serious challenge to the global community with every country and sector having a fair share of the impact on its economic activities. Agriculture, which is the mainstream of the economy of many countries, including Nigeria, is one of the sectors that are affected by this pandemic. This study therefore, investigated how the outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted on the information sourcing patterns of rural farmers in Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted with the questionnaire used as the research instrument for data collection. Data collected were analysed through descriptive method with multivariate frequency distribution tables and SPSS used as the statistical tools for data analysis. Findings revealed that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic did not stop farmers from seeking agricultural information even though their preference for information in areas such as fertilizer application and weed control was higher compared 'to areas like agriculture loans, pest control and seed selectioh among others. Rural farmers in Nigeria were more exposed to the informal sources of agricultural information such as family members and fellow farmers compared to the formal and professional sources such as extension workers and the mass media. Among the sources of agricultural information available, the most credible one to rural farmers, however, was not related to the sources most available to them as radio was regarded as the source more credible and trustworthy to them as against family members and fellow farmers which happened to be the sources more available to the rural farmers in this period. Finding also revealed that the demand for information among rural farmers was not significantly related to the level at which such demands were met as sources of the agricultural information available to rural farmers were able to satisfy their information needs but to a little extent. Finding finally revealed that rural farmers faced the major challenge of poor radio/television signals, while^ lack of ownership of the radio/television set. COVID-19 lockdown protocol, lack of ICT infrastructure and illiteracy were the additional .challenges that rural farmers faced in seeking for agricultural information in the era. The conclusion of this study was that the outbreak of COVID-19 does not make agricultural information less important to rural farmers in Nigeria but certain factors limit the sources available from satisfying their agricultural information needs. The study recommended that rural farmers' agricultural information seeking behaviour in areas like agriculture loans, pest control and seed selection among others should be enhanced as it is by doing so that they can acquire adequate knowledge enough to fully develop the sector. Rural farmers should be trained in different areas of agricultural activities to make them more trustworthy by their folks since they are the closest sources to farmers in the rural areas.