Determinants of Utilisation of Social Media for Agricultural Extension Service Delivery in Ogun State, Nigeria
2025
Fadipe, M.O. | Ilori, A.R. | Adewunmi, A.A. | Oladele, O.O.
Social media has great potential in facilitating information to farmers and enhancing agricultural extension service delivery. Therefore, this study assessed the variables that could influence the use of social media for agricultural extension service delivery. Data were collected from all ninety-two (92) extension agents present in Ogun State, Nigeria, with the aid of questionnaires. The results revealed that the extension agents' average age was 44 years. The major social media platform used for service delivery was WhatsApp (91.3%). Furthermore, improved accessibility and availability of agricultural information to farmers (97.8%), and enhanced collaboration and knowledge sharing among extension agents and organisations (95.7%) were the highly ranked perceived benefits of social media integration into service delivery. The most severe challenges limiting the use of social media for agricultural extension service delivery in Ogun State were high charges of data by network providers and unstable power supply (Mean = 1.32). Additionally, constraints (β = 0.206) and perceived benefits (β = 0.563) were the only factors that predicted the social media usage for service delivery in the study area. Conclusively, over half of the respondents had a low level of social media utilisation for agricultural extension services delivery, and poor perceived benefits towards the utilisation of social media for agricultural extension services. Thus, the agricultural extension organisation, through the ADP, should provide a supportive environment and facilities for easy integration of social media in delivering agricultural extension services.
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