Perception of Cattle Farmers to the Use of Information Communication Technologies in Cattle Management Practices in Oke-Ogun Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

摘要

The study investigated perception of cattle farmers to the use of information communication technologies in Oke-Ogun Area of Oyo State. Snow ball technique was used to sample75 cattle farmers from four randomly selected Local Government Areas in Oke-ogun area and structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on respondents' personal characteristics, perception of ICTs use in cattle management and the constraints they face in using ICT in their management practices. Findings revealed that alarger proportion of the farmers (53.3%) showed favourable perception to the use of ICT in improving cattle management practices while about 46.7% indicated unfavourable perception. Erratic and unstable power supply (69), dearth of relevant information on livestock management (50) and high level of sophistication required to use ICT equipment (49) were identified as the most severe constraints affecting the use of ICT among the farmers. A non-significant relationship existed between respondents' perception and the constraints they face in the use of ICT (r = 0.459 p>0.05). Study concluded that majority of the farmers will be willing to harness the benefits offered by ICTs for their cattle improvement if they are empowered financially and mentally. Efforts is also required by the relevant extension agencies to break many farmers from their traditional and superstitious belief tie in order to get them mainstreamed into the global trend of application of ICTs for development.