The Use of Radio in Conceptualising Farmer’s Reaction in Problem Solving

Communication media principally radio has provided farmers with newest idea and information for them to adapt and adopt agriculture technology and practices in agricultural extension services (AES). It shows that, radio role is still focused on delivery of information for production output. For that reason, under AES structural governance reform such as decentralisation and privatization that aimed to curb AES situation problem like insufficient of information delivery, radio is suggested as a tool that allow feedback and influence farmers information behavior in facing that problem. Drawing upon Situational Theory Problem Solving (STOPS) as the framework, aside from looking at the perception of publics towards certain problem. This study determined the reaction of Malaysian paddy farmers that could be shaped to view insufficient of information delivery within AES as being intervention in increasing farmers’ utilisation of communication media such radio. More specifically, the objective of the study is to construct a quantitative measure of radio as new concept to be examined within STOPS. An extensive reviews of literature then produced preliminary factor and items that were tested through a survey distributed among 110 respondents. Exploratory factor analysis found the items fell into common factor group and finalised with 7 items of measurement for future study. These results offer initial guidance into the relevance of radio effected farmers’ reaction in problem solving within the proposed model of the STOPS especially at local context

Keywords – Agricultural Extension Services, Farmers, Insufficient of Information Delivery, Situational Theory of Problem Solving(STOPS), Radio.