Effectiveness of Visual, Audio, and Extension Publications in Transferring Knowledge and Information to Farmers in Kerman Province

Promotion institutions disseminate new technologies among farmers in various ways, including mass media. In the present study, the effectiveness of radio, television, internet and extension publications in the dissemination of agricultural information among farmers was investigated. This research was a descriptive-applied study and has been implemented using descriptive-correlational method. The statistical population was 1433 farmers in Kerman province in 2016-17 which 100 of them were selected using Cochran formula and proportional stratified random sampling. The instrument was a questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability for different parts of the questionnaire was obtained from 0.83 to 0.89 by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Based on the results, TV, radio, extension publications and the internet ranked first to fourth according to their usage. Despite the fact that extension publications were ranked third in terms of usage, they were recognized as the most effective media. The relationship between age, education, experience, and media effectiveness were not statistically significant. The relationship between education level and the use of extension publications, the relationship between experience and use of radio, and the relationship between age and the use of radio were positive at the level of 5%, and the relationship between education and internet use were positive and significant at the level of 1%. In the end, recommendations were presented to enhance the effectiveness of these media.