Extension communication methods and farm management support during Covid-19 pandemic : the case of smallholder cabbage farmers in Polokwane and Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipalities, Limpopo Province

Abstract

The study presents extension communication methods for cabbage farmers with the aims to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the extension communication methods (ICT tools) through which smallholder cabbage farmers receive farm management information from their local extension practitioners and whether farmers socio-economic situation position them to receive farm management information through the conventional communication media and the current digital communication tools in Polokwane and Lepelle-Nkumpi local municipalities. The restrictions on people movement and contacts between people, including farmers and extension practitioners. Smallholder farmers in developing countries including South Africa, who depend mainly on the public extension service provider for their farm management information needs, are no longer receiving the traditional face-to-face farm management support through individual and group visits. The conceptualization of adoption behaviour analysis utilized in this study was based on the Düvel framework. The study objective were; to identify and describe smallholder cabbage farmers socio-economic characteristics that might influence the communication methods (ICT tools) they use for receiving farm management information from their local extension practitioner, to ascertain and describe the communication methods (ICT tools) through which smallholder cabbage farmers mainly received farm management information from their local extension practitioner before and since the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa in 2020, and also to describe the challenges associated with the communication methods (ICT tools) through which smallholder cabbage farmers have received farm management information from their local extension practitioner since the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa in 2020. A cross sectional survey approach was used for this study to collect data at one point in time to achieve the aim of the study. A sample of 81 farmers from the two municipalities were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze the data using SPSS software. The questionnaires were coded, and the data was entered on a computer using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.5 software. The software was used for data analysis. Data were analysed using percentages and, frequency and Chi-square test. The study findings showed that there is a significant relationship between socio economic characteristic and the communication methods through which farmers vi received information. Furthermore, the results showed that most respondents utilized ICT tools before COVID-19 as compared to the period of COVID-19. Finally, the results of the distribution of respondents on challenges associated with the communication methods showed that most respondents had no challenges utilizing the communication ICT tools. It is therefore recommended that to accelerate innovation and improve agricultural practices among farmers, policy needs to address both the technical and social-economic barriers to adoption as well as the cultural change. Issues such as reading levels require long term transformation strategies. Shorter term strategies are therefore required, such as deliberately ensuring that dissemination methods adopt accessible technologies, which in this instance include radio and TV. It will be essential for research organisations to match the dissemination methods with the farmers’ preferences to attain more effective transfer of knowledge and skills from research to farmers