Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

MASS MEDIA USAGE AMONG OFFICIALS THAT CAN BENEFIT AQUACULTURE- PERCEPTUAL MAPPING

Nisha Elizabeth Joshua and S.N. Ojha

Abstract

The different kinds of communication facilities utilized by the staff of Department of Fisheries (DoF) were studied by means of collecting data from a total of 165 Department of Fisheries staff that extended support to fish farmers in five districts in Kerala where a large number of inland fish farmers occupied. It was observed that the staff used communication media like newspaper, leaflet, farm magazine, bulletin, radio, TV, Kisan Call Centre, mobile phone and internet for getting aquaculture-related information on various subjects like, improved culture practices, stocking density, management practices and methods to tackle disease outbreak. A percentage analysis of the types of communication facilities utilized by the officials revealed that all of them used post office and telephone for communication but only 16.4% used radio. The next highest communication facility used was TV (72.7%) tailed by Internet (38.2%) and Kisan Call Centre (34.5%). A weighted score analysis was done after grouping different media for getting aquaculture related information under categories like never, occasionally, bimonthly, weekly and daily. Mass media exposure score through Newspaper (609) was the highest followed by Magazines (415), TV (324) and Radio (260). Multidimensional scaling visualized the level of similarity, with respect to dimensions like, relevance of mass media used by DoF staff, usage level of mass media by the staff and the ease with which the staff could access the farm-related relevant information. The level of similarity observed for the usage of Internet and Kisan Call Centre were dissimilar from that of radio, mobile phone, TV, leaflet, bulletin and farm magazine. Information channels like radio, newspaper and TV best fitted with each other for accessing information related to aquaculture. Internet and Kisan Call Centre adhered to Dimension 1 (relevance level), mobile phone, newspaper, leaflet, TV and radio stuck to Dimension 2 (usage) and print media like bulletin and farm magazine favoured Dimension 3 (ease of access). Finally, a series of suggestions were set for improving the usage of mass media that might benefit the aquaculture farmers.