Author : Ismail Pulungan

Summary : The study sought to find out the communication behavior of diary farmers in Sta. Maria Dairy Plant (SNDP). Specifically, it aimed to determine the availability and use of communication media, and to identify the communication practices of dairy farmers in order to design a communication plan that will support the cow dispersal program, increase milk production and increase farmer's income. Simple random sampling was used to obtain 130 dairy farmer-respondents. Data were gathered through interviews using a questionnaire. Personal interviews with SMDP officials and the staff of the Dairy Development Division (DDD) were also done. All of the respondents were members of the Sta. Maria Dairy Farmers' Association (SMDFA) and were participants in the cow dispersal program of the SMDP. The respondents were male, maried with five children and 48 years old on the average. The respondents' educational background ranged from cartilla to college graduate. Majority of them had more than one year of year of experience in dairy farming and belonged to either backyard dairy farmers' group or smallhold farmers. More than one-half received an average income of P1,357.45. Ninety percent of the respondents got their income from sources other than milking cow. Radio and television were the media most available to them followed by newspapers, comics, leaflets, and magazines. A great majority of the respondents listened regularly to radio specially to news, livelihood, pleasure and music, religious, educational and cultural or drama programs. Only few respondents listened seldom to dairy farming programs because they were unaware or did not know which stations bradcast such programs. Majority preferred to listen in the morning. All of the respondents watched television. Most of them watched in the evening. Sixty-eight percent were readers although 65 percent owned reading materials. Non-owners borrowed reading materials from neighbors, relatives and friends.