Media coverage for development of agriculture sector: An analytical study of television channels in Pakistan

Agriculture sector is considered to be the bedrock of Pakistan's economy as it plays an important role, directly as well as indirectly, in generating economic and industrial growth. In-spite of such a great significance, the speed of agricultural development in Pakistan is very low. Agricultural production can be increased considerably if available modern production technologies are adopted by the farming community. Media is considered to be one of the best tools to create awareness about the effectiveness and application of new technologies. So the present study was conducted in the Department of Mass Communication, Lahore College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan during the year 2011 to determine extent of television coverage for development of agriculture sector in Pakistan for the period 2006-2010. Data were collected from media practitioners of private and public television channels by applying intensive interview technique. The study concludes that there is only one dedicated television channel (Sohni Dharti) for agriculture sector out of 82 channels. Indeed, a single agricultural channel is inadequate for an agrarian country having 67 percent of total population living in rural areas and 44.7 percent of them connected to farming. The data further indicate that no other television channel was giving due coverage to third largest sector of the economy. However, these television channels were found occasionally accommodating agricultural news items/news packages in their current affair programmes and news bulletins. Frequency and duration of targeted programmes are also not feasible to create an impact on farming community. The findings endorse that maximum weekly time (14 hours out of 168 hours) is afforded by Apna channel for agricultural broadcasts i.e. only 8.3 percent of total time. Major reasons for neglecting this sector by television channels include non-availability of sponsorship, revenue, lack of viewer ship and demand from farmers, along with lack of frequent arrangement of agricultural events by the government and other related organizations.