<p>             <b>TABLE OF CONTENTS&nbsp;</b></p><p>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................................................VI&nbsp;</p><p>ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .................................................................................................... VII&nbsp;</p><p>TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................... VIII&nbsp;</p><p>LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... ...........XI&nbsp;</p><p>LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. XIII&nbsp;</p><p>LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... XIV&nbsp;</p><p>ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................................&nbsp; XV</p><p><b>

Chapter ONE

&nbsp;</b><br></p><p>&nbsp;1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................&nbsp; 1&nbsp;</p><p>1.1. Background ........................................................................................................................................&nbsp; 1&nbsp;</p><p>1.2. Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................................3&nbsp;</p><p>1.3. General Objective of the Study ............................................................................................................ 4</p><p>&nbsp;1.4. Specific objectives of the Study .......................................................................................................... 4&nbsp;</p><p>1.5. Scope and Limitation of the Study ........................................................................................................ 5&nbsp;</p><p>1.6. Significance of the Study .......................................................................................................................5&nbsp;</p><p>1.7. Organization of the Thesis ..................................................................................................................... 6&nbsp;</p><p><b>

Chapter TWO

</b><br></p><p>2. LITERATURE REVIEW--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;2.1 Review of Agricultural Knowledge and Information .............................................................................. 7&nbsp;</p><p>2.1.1 Operational definitions .........................................................................................................................7&nbsp;</p><p>2.1.2 Concept of agricultural knowledge and information ............................................................................. 8&nbsp;</p><p>2.1.3. The role of agricultural knowledge and information in agricultural development.................................. 9</p><p>&nbsp;2.1.4 Sources of agricultural knowledge and information ........................................................................ 10&nbsp;</p><p>2.1.5. Knowledge sharing and communication network .............................................................................. 11&nbsp;</p><p>2.2. Role of Agricultural Extension Service.......................................................................................... 13&nbsp;</p><p>2.3. Information-Seeking Behavior ................................................................................................................ 15&nbsp;</p><p>2.4. Empirical Studies on Access to Different Extension Service and Mass Media....................................... 16</p><p>&nbsp;2.5. Empirical Studies on Factors Affecting Access and Utilization of Agricultural Information ....................17&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.1. Household’s personal and demographic variables ............................................................................. 17</p><p>&nbsp;2.5.2. Household’s socio-economic variables ............................................................................................... 22&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.3. Institutional factors ..............................................................................................................................&nbsp;&nbsp; 23&nbsp;</p><p>2.5.4. Psychological factors ............................................................................................................................&nbsp;&nbsp; 25</p><p>&nbsp;2.6. Conceptual Framework of the Study ...................................................................................................... 27&nbsp;</p><p><b>CHAPTER&nbsp;THREE</b><br></p><p>3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 29&nbsp;</p><p>3.1. Description of the Study Area ................................................................................................................. 29&nbsp;</p><p>3.2. Sample Size and Method of Sampling ................................................................................................... 32&nbsp;</p><p>3.3. Data Type, Sources and Method of Data Collection ............................................................................. 34&nbsp;</p><p>3.4. Methods of Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................35&nbsp;</p><p>3.4.1. Descriptive statistics ........................................................................................................................... 35&nbsp;</p><p>3.4.2. The Tobit model ..................................................................................................................................&nbsp; 36&nbsp;</p><p>3.5. Definition of Variables and Hypothesis ................................................................................................... 41</p><p>&nbsp;3.5.1. Dependent variables ........................................................................................................................... 41&nbsp;</p><p>3.5.2. Definition of independent variables and hypothesized relations ,..........................................................41</p><p><b>

Chapter FOUR

</b>&nbsp;</p><p>4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................. 46&nbsp;</p><p>4.1. Access to and Utilization of Accessible Agricultural Information .........................................................46&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.1 Access to and utilization of knowledge and information from group extension methods.................... 47&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.2. Access to and utilization of information from individual extension method........................................ 68&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.3. Mass media exposure of settler farmers and utilization of agricultural information ............................70&nbsp;</p><p>4.1.4. Information access and sharing by local information network ............................................................73&nbsp;</p><p>4.2. Level of Agricultural Information Access and Utilization......................................................................... 75&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.1. Level of agricultural information access ............................................................................................ 75&nbsp;</p><p>4.2.2. Level of agricultural information utilization ......................................................................................... 77</p><p>&nbsp;4.3. Responsiveness and Potential of extension service in addressing farmers problems.......................... 79&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.1. Responsiveness of extension service ................................................................................................ 79&nbsp;</p><p>4.3.2. Potential of extension service in addressing farmers’ problem ......................................................... 82&nbsp;</p><p>4.4. Description of Independent Variables ..................................................................................................... 84&nbsp;</p><p>4.4.1. Description of personal characteristics of the sample respondents ......................................................84</p><p>&nbsp;4.4.2. Description of socio-economic characteristics of the sample respondents ..........................................91&nbsp;</p><p>4.4.3. Description of institutional characteristics of the sample respondents ................................................96&nbsp;</p><p>4.4.4. Description of psychological characteristics of sample respondents ................................................105&nbsp;</p><p>4.5. Relationship between dependent and independent variables ..............................................................112</p><p>&nbsp;4.6. Results of the Tobit Econometric Model ................................................................................................ 115&nbsp;</p><p>4.6.1. Determinants of agricultural information access and intensity of access and utilization and intensity of utilization ................................................................................................................................................&nbsp; 117</p><p>&nbsp;4.7. Constraints of Access to and Utilization of Agricultural Information ...............................................127&nbsp;</p><p>4.7.1. Constraints that Inhibit settler farmers from Access to agricultural information ..............................127</p><p>&nbsp;4.7.2. Constraints that Inhibit settler farmers from Utilization of the accessible agricultural information ......130</p><p><b>

Chapter FIVE

&nbsp;</b><br></p><p>&nbsp;5. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................. 132</p><p>&nbsp;5.1 Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 132&nbsp;</p><p>5.2. Conclusion and Policy Recommendations .......................................................................................... 137&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 141&nbsp;</p><p>APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................... ................151 - 158&nbsp;</p>