Role of social and mass media in agricultural information dissemination among the farmers of tehsil Shakargarh, District Narowal, Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The current study was conducted to assess the role of the social and mass media in agricultural information dissemination among the farmers of Tehsil Shakargarh, District Narowal. The study data was collected from 120 respondents selected through random selection from different UCs of the Tehsil Shakargarh. The study population consisted of different ages, landholdings, annual family income and experience of crop production and livestock rearing. The data showed significant awareness related to social media (p = .011), while the effect of mass media was not statistically significant (p = .086). However, a significant proportion of social media users faced problems while using these sources of information (p = .015). The recorded data showed that 100% of the population of the studied area had mobile phones and radio, however 50.8% and 38.3% had television and laptops, respectively. Among the mobile phone users, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Facebook software applications had been using 92.5%, 80.0%, and 79.2% population, respectively. Most of the farmers (approx. 80%) of Tehsil Shakargarh were having education level of matric or above. In addition, majority of farming community (54.1%) were small land holders and owners of their arable lands. Therefore, most of them were experienced farmers, belonging to middle class families and had easy access to social and mass media information. Farming community of the studied area was having awareness about social and mass media as well. However, inefficiency of agricultural extension service providers was also reported in the area. That might be due to their negligence, prevailing nepotism or the lack of modern agricultural technologies and the extensions services. That's why a large part of farming community was facing obstacles using social and mass media materials and ultimately following the digital agriculture. It was concluded that farming community of the studied area had access to social and mass media more over agricultural information (i.e. crop production technologies, climate pattern, innovative tools, and modern machinery) has been disseminated. © 2026 The Author(s)