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The Role of Multimedia Approach in Narrowing the KAP-gaps Among the Farmers of the Strategic Extension Campaign in Muda Irrigation Scheme Area in Malaysia.
Thesis Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to (1) compare the level of Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) on the Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) control management technology between the farmers with low and high socioeconomic status (SES) in Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) area before and after the Strategic Extension Campaign (SEC); (2) determine the change in KAP-gaps on the BPH control management technology among those farmers before and after the SEC; (3) determine the relationship between farmer’s characteristics and social activities, and the KAP-level before the SEC; (4) determine the relationships between farmer’s characteristics, social activities, and multi-media factors in the SEC and the KAPlevel after the SEC; and (5) predict the KAP-level based on the KAP-equation of low and high SES farmers in the MADA area, Malaysia.
The MADA had launched the SEC on BPH control management based on a KAP-survey. This study was designed as pre- and post-campaign study. The KAPsurvey results as the secondary data of the study were the benchmark data of the precampaign study. The study evaluated the effects of the campaign. A sample of 189 farmers was selected by using the stratified sampling procedures. Data were gathered by means of personal interviews using structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS for Window version 7.5. The ANOVA-test and Pearson product-moment correlation were used to test the hypotheses. Stepwise multiple regression was employed to determine which of the independent variables of the study are strong predictors of the KAP-level.
The findings revealed that KAP-level of both low and high SES farmers on the technology of BPH control management had increased after the multimedia campaign. However, the multimedia approach of SEC had narrowed the KAP-gaps of these farmers. It was found that the degree of equality with regard to the KAP-level in the Muda Irrigation Scheme area had increased.
Organizational membership and paddy income were found to be positively related to KAP-level of the low-SES farmers before the campaign, while age was found to be negatively related to the KAP-level. Meanwhile, in the high-SES farmer groups before the campaign, the organizational membership was found to be positively related to their KAP-level.
After the campaign, educational attainment, paddy income, organizational membership, contact with change agent, cosmopoliteness, multimedia exposure, frequency of use, understanding level, usefulness of the multimedia messages, and farmers’ perception on the multimedia approach of SEC were found to be positively related to the KAP-level of the low-SES farmers. Age and farmers’ preference on the printed media, however, were found to be negatively related to KAP. In the high-SES groups, all the independent variables were found to be positively related except the farmers’ preference on the printed media which was found to be negatively related to the KAP-level.
The stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that organizational membership was a strong predictor of the KAP-level of the low and high-SES farmers before the campaign. However, the multimedia exposure, farmers’ perception on the multimedia approach of SEC, and organizational memberships were the important predictors of the KAP-level of the farmers with low-SES after the campaign.
The contacts with change agents, multimedia exposure, and organizational memberships were also found to be important predictors of the KAP-level of the farmers in the high-SES group. It was recommended therefore, that in order to increase the KAP-level of those two groups of farmers, the task force of SEC should pay attention to the above predictors.