Browsing by Author "Thiga, Elizabeth Wangui"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Use of Television to Improve Farming Methods in Kenya: A Study of Shamba Shape Up Show
    (Daystar University, 2018-05) Thiga, Elizabeth Wangui
    The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of television (TV) as an educational tool to farmers was improving their farming methods. The study specifically focused on Shamba Shape Up, an agriculture focused show aired on Citizen TV, in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to investigate the use of TV as a medium in communicating farming techniques to farmers in view of boosting food production and consequently food security; to find out the kind of information farmers needed from TV shows such as Shamba Shape Up; to determine the extent to which Shamba Shape Up show influenced farmers to adopt new farming practices; and to establish how the supplementary materials availed after the Shamba Shape Up show aided in the comprehension and retention of the televised content. The study’s theoretical framework was based on the social learning and the situated learning theories. The study used a descriptive research design with a mixed methods approach to gather data from a stratified, purposive sample of 187 farmers and three extension officers in Thika Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya. The data collection instruments were questionnaire for the farmers and interview guide for the extension officers. SPSS version 22 was used in the analysis of the quantitative data while the qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Some key findings of the study were that TV programs such as Shamba Shape Up were educating farmers on diverse agricultural content even without supplementary materials; the Shamba Shape Up show was meeting the farmers’ needs; and that the farmers were implementing the lessons learned from Shape Shape Up. Among the study’s recommendations were that TV producers need to involve farmers in the pre-production process of agricultural programmes, and that that there is need to investigate the use of vernacular TV in disseminating development-oriented content such as agriculture.