Abstract
The role of media in agricultural sector in Pakistan is considerably high and in case of Punjab its role becomes manifold. In
such a backdrop, this study was carried out to explore the relevance and effectiveness of media (TV and Radio) for farmers
in providing agricultural information. The effectiveness of media was assessed by investigating the access to and availability
of the sources used, frequency, preferred medium (language) of the source and the coverage of factors affecting agricultural
productivity by the source. For this purpose, District Nankana Sahib of Punjab was selected. Multistage sampling technique
was employed to select two tehsils (Shahkot and Sangla Hill) of Nankana Sahib randomly. Further, five villages from these
two tehsils were selected conveniently and 90 farmers were approached employing convenient sampling technique. The
findings imply that TV and Radio subscribers are considerably high but the usage of media for agriculture information is not
as effective as it should be. The study revealed that most of the participants had access to TV and radio but preferred
brochures, pamphlets, newspapers, agents of pesticide companies and fellow farmers for acquiring relevant information.
Most of the agricultural information delivered through TV and radio was in Urdu while the participants showed their
preference for Punjabi or local language as a medium of such information. As for coverage of factors affecting agricultural
productivity, weather forecast, plant protection measures, livestock and sowing methods were given extensive coverage
while machinery and crop variety were slightly covered.
