Analysis of Worth Assessment, Access Points and Credibility of Information Sources Used by Artisanal Fish Farmers in Selected Coastal States of Nigeria

Abstract

Information sources play a vital role in improvement of artisanal fish farming. However, the different sources of information do not receive equal attention by artisanal fishers, and, as a result a study on the worth assessment, access points and credibility of information sources used by artisanal fish farmers was conducted. This study was carried out in the coastal States of Nigeria, which included, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, which are in Nigeria in West Africa. The data for the study gathered were from primary sources using structured questionnaire. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicates that the majority of artisanal fish farmers were male (79.90%). A high proportion of artisanal fish farmers fall within the age bracket of 41 - 50 years (43%). This shows that artisanal fish farmers are predominantly young people. Majority (88%) of the artisanal fish farmers had one form of education or the other. This background of artisanal fishers affected information accessibility. Majority of artisanal fish farmers 243 (55%) earn monthly income between 11,000 Naira - 50,000 Naira. Artisanal fish farmers need information in nearly all the areas. Coastal artisanal fish farmer's information was highly motivated by farmer's groups, television, neighbor farmers, co-operatives, use of cell phones, extension agents, church meetings, input dealers, output buyers, credit agencies and friends who were regular and relevant. Some of the constraints associated with information dissemination included long distance to source of information, language barrier between artisans and information sources, cost of acquiring access points, technical languages of information by experts, unreliable nature of electricity for use of television, cell phones and laptops, and lack of libraries of access points in the fishing settlements. Illiteracy of artisanal fish farmers, shortage of extension workers, and distortion due to interpretation by interpreters, epileptic cell phone mobile network situation, and obtaining it was an expensive logistical problem, while some are abroad and expensive to reach. The regression analysis revealed that there is a significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of artisanal fish farmers and their information worth assessment. It also shows that there is a significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of artisanal fish farmers and the information access points.