THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS ON INFORMATION AVAILABILITY AMONG FISHER FOLK IN MAKURDI, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The influence of personal characteristics on information availability among fisher folk in Makurdi was
examined in this paper. A list of 269 registered fisher folk in two landing sites – Wadata and North Bank in
lower River Benue Makurdi was obtained from Benue State Agricultural Development Programme (BESADP).
Random sampling technique was used to select eighty percent of the fisher folks (215) while structured
questionnaire was administered to the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts,
percentages and correlation (p < 0.05). The results showed that majority of the fishers folk were married
(73.0%), between 30-39 years (35.8%), had no formal education (59.1%), 93.0% fund their business through
personal savings and 57.2% belong to fishermen association. There are significant relationship between the
personal characteristics and information availability on age (β = 0.159), house hold size (β = 0.159) secondary
occupation (β = 0.208) and business funding (β = 0.152). The study therefore recommends that while
formulating policy on information availability to fisher folks their age, household size and secondary
occupation should be considered for it to be available to the fisher folk and its eventual utilization.