An analysis of language use and content in communicating agricultural technologies to farmers in Ethiopia

Since research findings often do not have direct or immediate relevance to farmers, extension workers are often called upon to develop ways to communicate and disseminate these findings to farmers. Two of the main problems limiting the effective communication and rapid dissemination of agricultural technologies are the content and the language. Evidence suggests that the importance and impact of language use and content selection and adaptation have been poorly understood in communicating and disseminating new technologies to farmers. This study aimed to improve technology adoption rates among farmers by improving the design and approach taken in communicating the use and application of new technologies to farmers. The specific objectives of the study were to indicate better ways of communicating new technologies to farmers in agriculture and to select and adapt important technologies for communication. To this end, data from two sources were collected for this study. First, survey data were collected from rural farmers in Welmera Wereda, Ethiopia where a research center that generates new technologies was located. The data were collected through questionnaire-based structured interviews of households using a systematic sampling strategy. Second, extension materials that were ready to be distributed to farmers were also collected and analyzed. Examination of the data based on both the analysis of descriptive statistics and the analysis of qualitative information yielded several findings on the importance and impact of both language and content in the study area. The findings will be useful in increasing agricultural technology dissemination and adoption by farmers in the rural area and improving awareness of the farmers, policy makers and other stakeholders on the better ways of communicating or packaging and disseminating agricultural technologies.