A COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF

THE FRCN AND THE ESBS RADIOS ENUGU

AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATION PROGRAMMES OF SHEEP AND GOAT KEEPING PRACTICE ON THE

AMECHI AND UGWUAJI SHEEP AND GOAT KEEPERS IN ENUGU SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA.

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Sheep and goat are ruminant animals that bring back food from their stomachs and chew them again. The rearing of sheep and goat is called sheep and goat keeping.

The rearing of sheep and goat can be discussed on their purposes, the breeds and the origin, the management system, the feeds and feeding, the breeding system up to the time of kidding, healthcare in addition to control and prevention of diseases

The main purposes of rearing sheep and goat are either for the meat or income or religious ceremonies and festivities or getting their droppings to serve as a farm yard manure for the plants, or hides and skins for leather works, wool or even for gifts or milk production. Anyanwu et al (1998:168, and 169) therefore emphasized that

 

Goat and [sheep] are mainly kept in the tropics for meat production… few breeds have a fairly good ability for milk production. In the temperate zones… goats and [sheep] are kept mainly for milk production…meat, hair, and skin production are secondary to milk production.

 

Reasoning along the same line of Anyanwu et al, Carles (1983:56) maintained, “there are a total of five major products from sheep-meat, wool, milk, skins and manure”.

There are many breeds of sheep and goat that thrive effectively in all parts of the world. We have the American breed, the Arabian breed, the European breed, and the African breeds. In Nigeria, we have the sheep and goat that can thrive effectively

either in the forest region or the swampy forest region or the savannah region of the country.

In Enugu state and other forest belt, the West African dwarf breed is common among goats. They are short-legged, very hardy with good meat quality. Such breeds are resistant to trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness. They are relatively small in size and can produce twins and tripplings.

In the North, we have the Sokoto Red, Kano Brown, Bornu white while for the sheep, we have the long-legged black sheep that have little resistance to trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness. They are the Uda, the Balami, the Yankasa that are relatively large in size, long-legged.

Anyanwu (pp. 170-171), however, subdivided all [sheep] and goat into two:

 

the breeds found in the tropics to include- the West African Dwarf…the Hejazi of Arabic and the Moxoto of Pernambuco… the Cutch… the Sapel…the Jumnapari and Surti.

 

the temperate breeds to include-the Anglo Nubian…the British Saanen…the Toggen-burg…the Angora and the Kashmeri

 

The sheep and goat breeds existing in communities are the West African dwarf goat while that of sheep are the long-legged huge ones.

Anyanwu (p.169) revealed that the

 

 

…Domestic goat started life at the Asian mountain…but

have undergone changes depending on the environment

and the purpose to which improvement is directed.

 

For Carles (p.6), the origin and the likely area of large scale sheep production is in the “subtropical area… of Middle East (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syrian)”

The management system of sheep and goat could be the free range or the extensive system whereby the animals are left to roam about and feed themselves. In this system, the rearer does not care for adequate feed, housing among others. This system is, however, practised where there are abundant grazing land or pastures for the animals. During farming season, this practice is not advisable since the farmers whose crops were destroyed may kill the goat and sheep. Moreover, this system may be open to thieves or wild carnivorous animals, like lions, pythons and hyenas among others.

There is also the tethering or the semi-intensive management system whereby sheep and goat are tied with long ropes to poles or pegs in the bush to graze on the pastures. Some supplemental feedings such as kitchen wastes, peeled human food or meals can be given to the animals. It is advisable to hide them in the homes in the night or during rainfall. This is practised where there is much pressure on the land or during the planting season.

The intensive system of management is where the sheep and goat are usually confined in houses or pens. Such houses are built with roof, dwarf walls, sand or concrete floors. In a better built houses, it is good to keep the animals on a raised slated platform with crossbars so that they can be lying on them free from their droppings or dung and urines after feeding on the feeds on the bare concrete or earthen floor. The feeds may be tied on a rope or put in a manger while water will be kept away from the pens to prevent the animals from excreting on them. This system facilitates the easy cleaning of the pen. However, the rearer provides all the feeding requirements to the animals. Anyanwu (p.173) had aptly summarised these three systems of management of keeping sheep and goat to be “(a) tethering (b) semi-stall feeding (c) herding or fencing”.

The feeds and feedings of sheep and goat are comparably inexpensive to other ruminant animals. The animals feed on roughages such as legumes, crop residues, grasses, kitchen wastes, peels and chaffs of human foods.  Supplements such as groundnut cake, palm kernel cake, cotton seed cake, cotton seed and growers’ dried grains are necessary for the provision of both proteins, energy and vitamins to the animals. Some commercially prepared ruminant supplements are marketed within Enugu state and environs which the UGWUAJI and AMECHI sheep and goat rearers can buy at a cheap price. Pregnant and nursing ewe (female sheep) and doe (female goat) need adequate and balanced roughages as well as supplements. Water, more especially clean water is desirable at all seasons. The lamb of the female sheep or the kid of the female goat may not be fed with the roughages, concentrates or supplements immediately. They are usually given the mothers’ milk until at a particular age, they are fed with a particular quantity and quality of feeds and feeding hence Anyanwu (p.174) stressed, “the art and practice of feeding animals take into consideration the age and the type of animals fed”.

Goat and sheep breed throughout the year. The lambs and the kids mature between 6-10 months for both sexes.  Some of the animals mature within 8-10 months but breeding that are allowed from 8-12 months before mating or crossbreeding usually develop fully, more especially the females.  In choosing the breed to rear, people do that based on the physical appearance of the group, birth weight, the rate of the animals’ growth, the multiple birthing ability of the pedigree or the parent stock.  The doe (female goat) or the ewe (female sheep) are mated when they are on heat period or need mating which lasts from1-2 days.  It comes again after three (3) weeks.  The signs of being on heat are restlessness, mounting of other animals, standing still when mounted by the males.

Successful coition results in pregnancy or gestation that lasts from 145-153 days depending on the stock. Signs of gestation are the enlargements of the udder (breast), refusal to be mounted by the male animals, the enlargement of the vulva (vaginal opening).  During the pregnancy period, adequate feeding is required.  As soon as parturition or labour or the female animals are about to deliver their young, adequate cleaning of the pens and disinfecting the pens are necessary.  The lamb (young sheep) or the kidding (young goat) are weaned at 4-6 months when the ewe or the doe stop given their young their milk.  Young males are castrated at 1-4 weeks where necessary to control sex ratio and check indiscriminate mating of the females.  The female goat or doe usually kid three or more times in two (2) years with either one or two or three young per birth depending on the breeding stock. The female sheep or ewe lambs accordingly like the female goat or doe.

The common diseases of sheep and goat are diarrhoea, sleeping sickness, worms, pneumonia and body parasites. The signs of illness are loss of appetite, abnormal pulse, rise in temperature, constipation or too much hard excreta, diarrhoea, difficulty or noisy breathing or coughing, dull looking, starring look, standing apart from others, foreign eyes or discharges, loss of age or weight, emaciation.

The control and prevention of the common disease are available for the sheep and goat rearers.  The peste des petites ruminants (PPR) or small ruminants pest, which comes in form of fever, can be controlled by vaccinating the sheep and goat during the rainy season between February – March or the onset of the harmattan within November and December. A veterinary officer is usually invited by the animal rearers to vaccinate the sick animals. To control all forms of worms, broad-spectrum worm expellers are used once every month during rainy season but less frequent at the period of dry season.  Insecticide solution called acaricide is usually spread on the animal’s pen or bodies to prevent the biting of ticks, mites, or fleas that causes craw-craw, itching skin or swellings. Sick animals can be quarantined. Good sanitation in the animals’ pen and within the surroundings can prevent some of the diseases of the goat and sheep. Overcrowding the animals is usually avoided to minimize disease and pest spread.

Acquiring breeding stock from reputable sources free from any physical defect, disease and stunted body growth is desirable. Crossbreeding between the West African Dwarf goats, the long-legged sheep and other big size breeds for size and improvement of performance should be encouraged.

The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Enugu ”Ndewonu Ndi Olu Ubi” started during the First Republic.  The English version was then called “Farmers Forum” which had since stopped.  The programme enlightens the people on gardening, crop planting, vegetable farming and animal husbandry among others.  The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Enugu radio news reporting is broadcast every Wednesday at 7.30pm for a duration of 15 minutes.

The Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) Enugu “Radio Farmer” started in 1988 when it was called the Anambra State Broadcasting Service (ABS). The Igbo version was entitled “Ndewo Ndi Olu Ubi” which was broadcast in the amplitude modulation (AM) frequency while the “Radio Farmer” was broadcast in the frequency modulation (FM) radio wave.  The Igbo version had been stopped while the “Radio Farmer” earlier aired twice a week for a duration of 15 minutes every Fridays by 4.30pm and Mondays by 3.03pm for the same duration of 15 minutes has continued with only that of Monday transmission at 3.03pm for the same duration of 15 minutes.  The FRCN Enugu broadcasts the same varied programmes aired by the station.  Both radio stations use the same signature tune format of combined entertainment – information at the beginning and the ending to motivate all people irrespective of their profession to embrace farming that is the live-wire of any society.  Within the middle of the entertainment could be a straightforward presentation or question and answer programme format for airing the programme which had already been recorded in an audio tape(s).  We are not, however, interested in all the programmes of agricultural news reporting or communication of the stations rather our interest is in that of sheep and goat rearing and management.  The above ideas as presented formed the core information of both radio stations message content.

 

• STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

We are quite aware of the efforts of the ENADEP officials and the radio agricultural programmes producers to inform the sheep and goat rearers about the techniques of rearing the animals but the problem is whether most of the animal rearers listen to the agricultural news reporting programmes of the two radio stations (FRCN and ESBS Enugu). If ever the sheep and goat rearers listen to the agricultural communication programmes of both radio stations, did they create any impact on them? Even if the radio stations created some impact on the sheep and goat rearers of UGWUAJI and AMECHI communities, to what extent was that impact?

If they listened to the programme and it created impact on them to a certain level, which radio station’s programme actually created more impact than the other?

 

• OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

In every research topic, the investigator has certain objectives in mind while carrying out the research.  The purposes are to:

• Ascertain if most of the AMECHI and UGWUAJI sheep and goat rearers listen to the agricultural communication programme of both FRCN and ESBS radios Enugu.
• Know if they actually understood the content of the programme on sheep and goat rearing of both radios stations and have applied them effectively or need the modification of the content for more understanding.
• Know the level of impact created on the sheep and goat rearers of AMECHI and UGUWAJI communities and which radio stations programme created more impact than the other.
  • SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Some small scale sheep and goat keepers who listened to both radio stations agricultural news reporting may be influenced to plan for a commercial or large scale production of sheep and goat for the benefit. It will also be beneficial to the general public in terms of acquisition of knowledge since any knowledge is not a waste.

The Enugu State Agricultural Development Project (ENADEP) officials who liaise with the producers to present the programme will be receiving visitors to clarify certain issues in the programme. This will indirectly enable both the ENADEP officials and the producers to improve their research as well as the presentation of the knowledge to the sheep and goat rearers. This amount to deep research in addition to the acquisition of more knowledge on their parts.

Industries that may need their raw materials from sheep and goat products could now be referred to commercial sheep and goat rearers for sourcing their needed raw materials.

 

1.5   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Do most of the AMECHI and UGWUAJI sheep and goat rearers listen to both the FRCN “Ndewonu Ndi Olu Ubi” and the ESBS “Radio Farmer at all”?
2. Did the agricultural communication programme on sheep and goat rearing of both radio stations create impact on the rearers.

• To what extent was the impact of the radio stations’ programmes to the target audience?

 

 

• RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

H₁    Most of the AMECHI and UGWUAJI sheep and goat rearers listen to both the FRCN “Ndewonu Ndi Olu Ubi” and the ESBS “Radio Farmer”.

H₀     Most of the AMECHI and UGWUAJI sheep and goat rearers do not listen to both the FRCN “Ndewonu Ndi Olu Ubi” and the ESBS “Radio Farmer”.

H­₂    The agricultural communication programme on sheep and goat rearing of both radio stations created impact on the rearers.

H₀    The agricultural communication programme on sheep and goat rearing of both radio stations did not create impact on the rearers.

H₃    The extent of the impact of the radio agricultural message to the target audience was high.

H_0­       The extent of the impact of the radio agricultural message to the target audience was not high.

H₄    One of the radio stations created more impact than the other on the sheep and goat rearers of AMECHI and UGWUAJI communities.

H_o    One of the radio stations did not create more impact than the other on the sheep and goat rearers of AMECHI and UGWUAJI communities.

 

• THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The basis for the theoretical framework for the study is to hinge the factors to the development of agriculture through radio listeners by the target audience. From such viewpoints, two theoretical frameworks-the development media theory and the use

and gratification model were, hereby, emphasized for the purpose of media reach, media exposure, media use.

The development media theory according to Okunna (1999:139) “the concepts of development journalism and development communication… (that are) very important in communication in the Third World countries” .Edeani (1993:126) as in Okunna (p. 139).explained that

 

Development communication… is the employment of all forms of communication, and not only the mass media, in the promotion of national development efforts…[while] development journalism is the kind of journalism which pays sustained attention to the coverage of ideas, policies, programmes, activities and events dealing with the improvement of the life of a people…

 

If the public for which the media messages are meant for are not interested in such messages, development cannot be sustained. If, however, the people are interested in such media messages, the second theoretical framework of the uses and gratification model will surface, which Cassata and Asante (1979:88) emphasised that

 

1. The audience being active, seeks out specific types of media content to satisfy its needs,
2. People select their media from cafeteria of all kinds of offerings, including selecting from competing media as well as from different, more conventional, and more traditional modes of needs fulfillment…
3. People are sufficiently aware of how the media satisfy their needs and interest, and are articulate enough to verbalise this.

 

Both the FRCN and the ESBS radios Enugu agricultural news reporting producers know the powers of the mass media and the

tenets of the development media theory as well as the uses and gratification model which, therefore, propelled them to use the radio since according to Okenwa (2000:4)

 

…The radio, no doubt, is enjoying greater popularity especially among rural population because of its reach… Whether reach alone can actually amount to proper use of the radio medium will again call back the issue of the relationship between message dissemination and message reception.

 

• SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY

The research study focused on only one hundred and two (102) selected respondents from each of the two communities – AMECHI and UGWUAJI who are sheep and goat rearers.  Moreover, the content of the broadcast information formed the basic questions in the questionnaire.  The study limited itself to the rearing of sheep and goat news reporting of the radio stations and not other agricultural communication reporting of the stations.  The procedures had been followed due to the short period of study and pressure on time.

 

• DEFINITION OF BASIC TERMS

The purposes of defining certain basic terms conceptually and operationally are to clarify some agricultural communication register to aid proper understanding by even a layman in the field.

Conceptual: This is the animal skin got and used for leather.

Operational: This is the dried sheep and goatskins used for shoe, .                      bag, leatherwork etc.

• TEMPERATE REGION.

Conceptual:      This is any area of the world that has mild temperature without much heat or cold.

Operational:      This refers to the European and American countries.

• TROPICAL REGION

Conceptual:      This is any area of the world between the Tropic of Cancer and the Capricon, which have hot climatic condition.

Operational:      This refers to Africa and some desert regions of the world.

• SLATED PLATFORM

Conceptual:      A flat surface raised above the level of the ground or floor.

Operational:      A table-like raised surface above the animal pen usually constructed with crossed bamboo or wooden sticks where sheep and goat can climb and rest after eating so that they are kept away from their droppings, urines etc on the floor.

 

 

• SUPPLEMENT

Conceptual:      These are feeds that supply proteins, vitamins and energy to the animals.

Operational:      These are the same with concentrates which are human meals such as groundnut cake, maize, soybean, oat, coconut cake, palm kernel cake, cotton seed, cotton seed cake.

 

• ROUGHAGES

Conceptual:      These are fibre food like vegetable materials that help in bowel movement.

Operational:      These are legumes, crop residues, grasses, kitchen wastes, peels and chaffs of human meals.

(vii) AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Conceptual:      This refers to agricultural news reporting that tend to motivate, encourage and sensitise the farmers to techniques of rearing and management of sheep and goat

Operational:      This refers to the agricultural news reporting of the FRCN Enugu “Ndewonu Ndi Olu Ubi” and the ESBS Enugu “Radio Farmer”.

 

(viii) BLOAT

Conceptual:      This is one of the diseases suffered by the sheep and goat due to bad feeding.

Operational:      This is one of the sheep and goat diseases caused by eating wet grasses.

• “NDEWONU NDI OLU UBI” AND “RADIO FARMER”

Conceptual: They are both agricultural news-reporting programmes of both radio stations.

Operational: They are the agricultural news reporting programmes of FRCN Enugu broadcast by 7.30pm every Wednesday and that of ESBS Enugu aired by 3.03pm every Monday respectively.

• PRODUCERS

Conceptual: These are the radio stations journalists who are the overall in charge of assembling particular programmes to be aired to the public.

Operational: These are the radio stations journalists of the FRCN “Ndewonu Ndi Olu Ubi” (Mike Utaka) and that of the ESBS “Radio Farmer” (Osmund Onyemaechi Anidiobi).

 

• ASSUMPTIONS

1. Most of the sheep and goat rearers in the AMECHI and UGWUAJI communities listened to both radio stations agricultural communication programme.
2. The content of the two-radio stations agricultural communication programme on sheep and goat rearing created impact.

• The rate of impact created on the target audience was high.

1. One of the radio stations created more impact than the other on the sheep and goat rearers of the two communities

 

REFERENCES

 

Anyanwu, Ambrose C. et al (1998): A Textbook of Agricultural

Science For Schools And Colleges, Fifth Edition, Onitsha:

Africana First Publishers Limited.

 

Carles, A. B(1983): Sheep Production In The Tropics, New York:

Oxford University Press.

 

Cassata, Mary and Asante, Molefi K (1979): Mass      Communication Principles And Practices, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company Inc.

 

Okenwa, Nnamdi .S (2000): The Mass Media: Uses And      Regulation, Enugu: Bismarck Publication.

 

Okunna, Stella. Chinyere (1999): Introduction To Mass      Communication, Second Edition, Enugu: New Generation        Books.

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