Types and Sources of Agricultural Information Published in Newspapers

Abstract

This study examined the types of agricultural information published in Tanzanian newspapers between 2009 and 2013. It also identified sources from which such agricultural news was obtained. Four newspapers namely Mwananchi, Habari Leo, The Guardian and Daily News with a total of 840 newspapers editions were selected for the study in all five years. Data were collected using a checklist and analysed by using Microsoft excel. The findings show that of the 63,609 news articles, only 836 (1.3%) articles were on agriculture-related topics. The findings also indicate that apart from the “other” category of agricultural information that constituted 42.5% of agricultural articles, 14.6% of the articles were on markets and prices of agricultural produce followed by agricultural innovations (12.6%) and agricultural inputs (11.2%). The lowest coverage (0.7%) was given to floods and disasters. With respect to the sources of agricultural articles, daily event was the most utilized source (42.2%) followed by politicians and government officials (22.0%). The study calls for the newspapers’ owners and publishers to increase the coverage of relevant agricultural information for agricultural development. Journalists should be empowered by enhancing their skills on how to report developmental issues such as agriculture.