Perception of Farmers on the Impact of Television Programme in Sustainable Agricultural Development of Bangladesh: A Case Study on Hridoye Mati O Manush

Abstract

Television is an effective medium of disseminating agricultural information to the farmers because of its audio-visual nature. It is true for the farmers of Bangladesh. One of the pioneers of agricultural journalism in the country is Shykh Seraj who initiated Mati O Manush (MOM) programme along with other presenters on the state-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) in 1980s. Later, he introduced Hridoye Mati O Manush (HMOM) on Channel i, one of the leading private television channels in the country. Earlier to introduction of MOM, there was hardly any attempt taken by TV media to feed information to the field of agriculture where about 70 percent population were some-how engaged and about 23 percent of GDP emanated from that sector after the Liberation War of Bangladesh. The present study was conducted to understand the perception of the farmers on the impact of HMOM programme in sustainable agricultural development of Bangladesh. A few methods i.e. questionnaire survey on the HMOM audiences, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Interviews (KII) and content analysis on the programme were adopted for gathering both the quantitative and qualitative data. The study revealed that HMOM facilitated 97 percent farmers to have access to agricultural information. More than three-fourths of the farmers adopted agricultural information availed from the programme and almost all the adopters (93.7 percent) got benefits using the information. Exposure to the programme had some visible impacts on the agricultural practices of 69.6 percent farmers. Socio-demographic features of the farmers played role in the process of access to and adoption of agricultural information, getting benefits and impacts. The female farmers, illiterate and less educated ones, and financially insolvent farmers lagged behind in these processes. The farmers felt empowered when their voices were presented in the ‘Farmer’s Budget’ series of HMOM where they interacted face-to-face with the policy makers. Such dialogue created an atmosphere of accountability of the government as well as bottom-up approach and participatory annual budgeting process on agriculture. The programme is also an eyeopener for the sectors like education, industry, health and so on where the authorities can ensure accountability of the government through participation of the masses. The HMOM programme, in reality, has become personalized. The audiences were largely attracted to the presentation style, personality and credibility of Shykh Seraj. Without him, most of the respondents could not think of a successful agricultural documentary. Thus, sustainability of the programme was challenged since alternative presenters were yet to develop. Flow of agricultural information is still scanty in Bangladesh. The National Agricultural Policy 2013 stressed on collaborative approach with the private TV channels for disseminating agricultural information. But, no significant initiatives were undertaken so far. The long-standing demand for setting up of an agro-based TV channel in the country has yet to be implemented. The government should undertake an integrated approach of disseminating agricultural information with the private television channels where HMOM can be considered as a model.