RURAL WOMEN’S PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION SOURCES FOR HOMESTEAD VEGETABLE CULTIVATION

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the preference of communication sources by the rural women for homestead vegetable cultivation. The study was also to determine and describe the selected characteristics of the rural women. The relationship of the selected characteristics of the rural women with their preference of communication sources was examined. The study was conducted in four unions of Jaldhaka upazila under Nilphamari district. An updated list of (1030) rural women was collected from the local NGOs. From that list 104 rural women were selected at randomly as sample for this study. Data were collected during 1 to 30 July 2015 by using an interview schedule. Each of the selected 11 characteristics of the women namely age, education, family size, farm size, annual income, credit received, training exposure, agricultural knowledge, organizational participation, dependency and fatalism constituted the independent variables, while preference of communication sources was the dependent variable. The dependent variable was determined by extent of contact and usefulness of the selected communication sources in receiving information on vegetable cultivation. On the other hand, 17 communication sources were considered to determine the preference of communication sources for homestead vegetable cultivation. Rank order for each of the communication sources was computed by using preference of communication source index (PCSI). Pearson’s product moment correlation co-efficient (r) was used to explore the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The highest proportion (72.11 percent) of respondents had medium preference of communication source while 17.31 percent had low and only 10.58 percent had high preference. In contrast, family members were mentioned by majority of respondents (PCSI=557) as the most preferred communication sources of information, and farm magazine occupied the last position in the ranking of the most preferred communication channels (PCSI=26). Out of 11 independent variables; education, credit received, training exposure, agricultural knowledge, and organizational participation showed significant positive relationship while age, dependency, and fatalism of the rural women showed significant but negative relationship with the dependent variable. The rest of the characteristics viz. family size, farm size, and annual income of the rural women did not show any relationship with their preference of communication sources.