Use of advertising media by small-scale agricultural entrepreneurs in Odeda local government area, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Advertising media engender a wider reach of agricultural products and services to potential customers and clients. Yet agricultural products and services are rarely advertised in the media. The study examined the use of advertising media by small-scale agricultural entrepreneurs in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State. Snow-ball sampling was used to select 180 respondents for the study. Data were obtained with the aid of interview guide. Descriptive (percentages and mean scores) and inferential (Chi-square and PPMC) statistics were used to analyse the data. Results show that the mean age of the respondents was 30.0±57.8 years. Majority (73.3%) were male, a little above half (51.1%) attended secondary schools, while 18.9% had tertiary education. Less than half (45.6%) had below 10 years of experience in agricultural enterprises, while 68.3% had positive perception of the use of media for advertisement. Physical display of products (x?=1.82) and social media (x?=1.67), limitation in customer’s access to online advertisement (x?=1.27), and high number of media advertisement competitors (x?=1.15) were the most serious constraints to their use of media for advertisement. There were significant relationships between type of agricultural enterprise (?²=7.281, p=0.02), constraints (r=-0.260, p=0.00) and use of advertising media. The study concluded that there was low use of advertising media among the respondents, however the favourable perception towards the use of advertising media should be leveraged upon by relevant stakeholders to engender a greater use of advertising media for a wider reach to customers and prospective clients.