<p>                   <b>TABLE OF CONTENTS</b><br></p><p>Declaration..................................................................................................................... i&nbsp;</p><p>Abstract ......................................................................................................................... ii</p><p>&nbsp;Dedication .................................................................................................................... iv&nbsp;</p><p>Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... v&nbsp;</p><p>Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ vi&nbsp;</p><p>List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xi&nbsp;</p><p>List of Tables ............................................................................................................... xii&nbsp;</p><p>List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................. xiv</p><p><b>

Chapter ONE

: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 1</b></p><p>.1 Background of the study ...................................................................................... 1&nbsp;</p><p>1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................... 8&nbsp;</p><p>1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 11&nbsp;</p><p>1.4 Objectives of the study ....................................................................................... 12&nbsp;</p><p>1.5 Relevance of the study ....................................................................................... 12&nbsp;</p><p>1.6 Operationalization of Terminologies .................................................................. 13&nbsp;</p><p>1.6.1 Access .................................................................................................... 13&nbsp;</p><p>1.6.2 Use ......................................................................................................... 13&nbsp;</p><p>1.6.3 Orientation towards improved farming .................................................. 14&nbsp;</p><p>1.6.4 Institutional Factors ............................................................................... 14&nbsp;</p><p>1.6.5 Livelihood Outcomes ............................................................................. 14&nbsp;</p><p>1.7 Study Area ................................................................................................. 14</p><p>&nbsp;1.8 Organization of the thesis .............................................................................. 15</p><p><b>&nbsp;

Chapter TWO

: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 17</b></p><p>&nbsp;2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 17&nbsp;</p><p>2.2 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................. 17&nbsp;</p><p>2.3 Theoretical Background ................................................................................ 21&nbsp;</p><p>2.3.1 The theory of Diffusion of Innovation ........................................................... 21&nbsp;</p><p> vii 2.3.2 The Theory of Planned Behaviour ............................................................. 25&nbsp;</p><p>2.3.3 Theory of Motivation ........................................................................................ 27&nbsp;</p><p>2.4 The concept of agricultural information................................................................ 28&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.1 Sources of agricultural information .................................................................... 29&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.2 Information sharing and communication network ............................................. 30&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.3 Role of Agricultural Extension Services in agricultural information dissemination .......................... 31&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.4 Determinants of farmers’ level of access to agricultural information .................... 31&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.5 Factors influencing farmers’ access to and use of Agricultural information ......................................... 32&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.5.1 Socio-economic variables influencing access to and use of agricultural information ........................... 33&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.5.2 Institutional factors influencing access to and use of agricultural information ..................................... 40&nbsp;</p><p>2.4.5.3 Orientation towards improved farming and access to agricultural information and it use. .................... 42&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.1 The role of agricultural information in agricultural development .......................................................... 46&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.2 Livelihood outcomes .............................................................................. 47&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.3 Relationship between agricultural information use and farmers’ livelihood outcomes. ........................... 47&nbsp;</p><p>2.6 Summary ....................................................................................................... 49&nbsp;</p><p><b>

Chapter THREE

: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 50&nbsp;</b></p><p>3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 50&nbsp;</p><p>3.2 Research Design ............................................................................................ 50&nbsp;</p><p>3.3 Study Population ........................................................................................... 50&nbsp;</p><p>3.4 Sample size ..................................................................................................... 51&nbsp;</p><p>3.5 Sampling Procedure ...................................................................................... 52&nbsp;</p><p>3.5.1 Multistage sampling ...................................................................................... 52&nbsp;</p><p> viii 3.5.2 Purposive sampling ................................................................................ 53&nbsp;</p><p>3.5.3 Cluster and simple random sampling ........................................................ 54&nbsp;</p><p>3.6 Type of Data .................................................................................................. 54&nbsp;</p><p>3.7 Research Instrument Development ............................................................... 55&nbsp;</p><p>3.8 Data Collection procedure ............................................................................. 56&nbsp;</p><p>3.8.1 Pretesting.................................................................................................... 56&nbsp;</p><p>3.8.2. Data collection ........................................................................................... 57&nbsp;</p><p>3.9 Data Analysis................................................................................................. 57&nbsp;</p><p>3.10 Analytical Methods ....................................................................................... 59&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.1 Level of access to agricultural information .............................................. 60&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.2 Level of use of agricultural information. .................................................. 61&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.3 Level of farmers’ attitude towards improved farming practices ............... 61&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.4 Level of Innovation Proneness.................................................................. 62&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.5 Level of Farmers’ Information Seeking Behaviour ................................. 62&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.6 Level of farmers’ Achievement Motivation .......................................... 63&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.7 Level of Farm Yield ............................................................................... 63&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.8 Level of farmers’ average annual Income ............................................. 64&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.9 Level of farmers’ wellbeing ...................................................................... 64&nbsp;</p><p>3.10.10 Level of Basic household assets possession ........................................ 65&nbsp;</p><p><b>

Chapter FOUR

: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION............................................... 66&nbsp;</b></p><p>4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 66&nbsp;</p><p>4.2 Farmer Characteristics................................................................................... 66&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.1 Social characteristics of respondents ..................................................... 66&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.2 Economic characteristics of farmers ...................................................... 70&nbsp;</p><p>4.3 Description of respondents’ orientation towards improved farming ............. 72&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.1 Attitude of farmers towards improved farming practices ...................... 73&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.2 Information Seeking Behaviour of Farmers .......................................... 74 <br></p><p> x 4.3.3 Farmers’ innovation proneness .............................................................. 76&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.4 Farmers’ achievement motivation.......................................................... 77&nbsp;</p><p>4.5 Description of institutional factors of the respondents ................................. 78&nbsp;</p><p>4.6 Access to and use of agricultural information ............................................... 80&nbsp;</p><p>4.6.1 Sources of agricultural information ....................................................... 80&nbsp;</p><p>4.6.2 Level of access to agricultural information ........................................... 81&nbsp;</p><p>4.6.3 Use of agricultural information .............................................................. 82&nbsp;</p><p>4.6.4 Level of use of agricultural information ................................................ 83&nbsp;</p><p>4.7 Livelihood Outcomes .................................................................................... 84&nbsp;</p><p>4.7.1 Level of yield per hectare ...................................................................... 84&nbsp;</p><p>4.7.2 Farmers’ average annual income ........................................................... 85&nbsp;</p><p>4.7.3 Farmers wellbeing .................................................................................. 86&nbsp;</p><p>4.7.4 Assets possession by farmers ................................................................. 87&nbsp;</p><p>4.7.5 Farmers level of assets possession ......................................................... 88&nbsp;</p><p>4.8 Relationship between farmer characteristics, institutional factors and access to agricultural information............................................................................................ 89&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.2 Relationship between farmers economic characteristics and access to agricultural information ........................................................................................ 90&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.3 Relationship between farmers’ orientation towards improved farming and agricultural information access ...................................................................... 91&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.4 Relationship between institutional factors and agricultural information access------------------93&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.5 Identification of significant predictor variables of access to agricultural information ........................................................................................................... 94&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.6 Relationship between farmer characteristics, institutional factors and use of agricultural information ........................................................................................ 97&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.7 Relationship between economic characteristics of farmers and of agricultural information ........................................................................................ 98 <br></p><p> x 4.8.8 Relationship between farmers’ orientation towards improved farming practices and agricultural information use ............................................................ 99&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.9 Relationship between institutional factors and agricultural information use ........................................ 101&nbsp;</p><p>4.8.10 Identification of significant predictor variables of the use of agricultural information .......................... 102&nbsp;</p><p>4.9 Relationship between level of access to agricultural information and level of use of agricultural information. ................................................................................................................................................... 105&nbsp;</p><p>4.10 Effect of the level of use of agricultural information on the livelihood outcomes of cocoa farmers .................................................................................................................................................. 107&nbsp;</p><p>4.10.1 Effect of level of agricultural information use on yield of cocoa ................................. 108&nbsp;</p><p>4.10.2 Effect of level of agricultural information use on farmers’ annual income................................... 109&nbsp;</p><p>4.10.3 Effect of Level of agricultural information use on farmers’ wellbeing ..... ....................................... 110&nbsp;</p><p>4.10.4 Effect of Level of agricultural information use on farmer’s assets possession ........................................................................................................... 111&nbsp;</p><p><b>

Chapter FIVE

: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................... 113&nbsp;</b></p><p>5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 113&nbsp;</p><p>5.2 Summary .......................................................................................................... 113&nbsp;</p><p>5.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 117</p><p>&nbsp;5.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................ 117&nbsp;</p><p>REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 120&nbsp;</p><p>APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... 150&nbsp;</p><p>Appendix I: Questionnaire ..................................................................................... 150&nbsp;</p><p>Appendix II: Regression Analysis Tables .............................................................. 156&nbsp;</p><p>Appendix III b: Descriptive statistics of independent variables ............................ 159 <br></p>