COMMUNICATION IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROCESS A PARANCEA FOR SUSTAINABLE VEGETABLE CROPS PRODUCTION AMONG RURAL WOMEN IN RIVERS STATE.

Abstract

The study investigated the role of communication in agricultural education and the innovation process as a catalyst for sustainable vegetable crop production among rural women in Rivers state, the purpose was to evaluate the extent of rural women’s access to utilization of agricultural information and determine the influence of communication plat forms on the adoption of sustainable vegetable farming techniques. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design, the population of the study was160 (120 women 40 men) the target population comprises of 150 respectively, the sample size of 150 was used to select the participants. Instrument used to gather data was a self- structured questionnaire designed titled Communication and Agricultural Innovation Questionnaire (CAIQ) in a 4-point rating scale of low extent (1) high extent (4) face and content validity, three experts from Agricultural Education, Measurement and digital evaluators review the instrument. The instruments reliability was established through a test-retest method, yielding a co-efficient of 0.82 Data were analyzed using mean standard deviation and z-test at 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that while communication strategies such as radio programs, group training and extension services are considered effective, mobile phone use remain as limited. Rural women showed high levels of access and application of agricultural information, though challenges such as literacy and follow-up by extension agents persist, the study concludes that effective, inclusive and locally adopted communication is critically for enhancing sustainable vegetable crop production. Based on the findings, the study recommends digital access, gender responsive outreach improve rural communication networks and evaluation mechanism.