Amare Hagos

A Study - on Analysis of Information: Communication Networks on Weed Infestation Amare Hagos

Agriculture is the most dominant and important sector in the Ethiopian economy, introduction of invasive alien species (IAS) like parthenium weed is among the many factors that affect agricultural production and productivity of Ethiopian farmers. The starting point for the design of effective programs to mitigate the impact of parthenium weed depends on the availability of accurate information. This study was initiated with the aim of analyzing information and communication network on Parthenium infestation among farmers in Tulo district. In addition, identifying the existing response of the stakeholders to control of the invasion of the weed was the tacit implication of the research. The result indicts a strong system of information exchange among the components of the informal Personal information sources subsystem (especially among farmers), but formal personal and public information sources were rarely unused. The information exchanges between the farmers and the formal personal and public information sources were generally weak.