Comparative Study on the Mobile Media Platforms Adopted by Farmers for Mobile-Based Agricultural Information and Communication in South-East Nigeria

The adoption of mobile-based agriculture extension has transformed agricultural extension communication globally. This study seeks to ascertain the mobile media platforms adopted by farmersfor agricultural information and dissemination in Anambra State, Enugu State, Abia State, Ebonyi State and Ebonyi State in South-Eastern part of Nigeria. The study adopted structured questionnaire as instrument for data collection and the data collected were analysed using descriptive statistical approach with statistical package for social science (SPSS) analytical tool.  The data gathered from farmers in South-East Nigeria shows that WhatsApp (35.2%) is the most commonly used platform, SMS users are (26.5%), while Facebook accounts for  (17.6%) of the responses, and 20.7% of the respondents do not use any platforms.WhatsApp (32.8%) is discovered to deliver the fastest response to agricultural inquiries, Facebook accounts for (27.3%), while SMS is (18.1%); no respondent selected USSD (0%). The distribution shows that WhatsApp and Facebook jointly accounts for 60.1% of the responses, while SMS represents 18.1%, with 21.8% respondents indicating no platform. The result also reveals that only (35.4%) have received agricultural extension messages from either government or NGOs, while (64.6%) affirmed negatively. (50%) of the respondents communicated directly with extension workers through WhatsApp (40.1%); SMS (26.5%); Facebook (12.9%); while (20.5%) of the respondents do not use any platform for direct communication with the extension workers; no respondent selected USSD (0%).On the reliability of the mobile platforms, data gathered indicated that Facebook (21%) and WhatsApp (32.3%) are the most reliable platform for extension-related information, SMS accounted for (22.8%) respondents, while no respondents relied on USSD and 23.4% of the respondents indicated that none of the platforms is reliable. The overall result reveals that (76.4%) agreed that they belong to mobile-based farmers group while (23.6%) do not.