Asian Social Science; Vol. 15, No. 11; 2019 ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 48 Analysis of Media Literacy Levels of Palm Oil Farmers in Riau Province, Indonesia Roza Yulida 1 , Rosnita 1 , Eri Sayamar 1 , Yeni Kusumawaty 1 & Yulia Andriani 1 1 Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, Riau University, Indonesia Correspondence: Roza Yulida, Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, Riau University, Indonesia. E-mail: roza.yulida@lecturer.unri.ac.id Received: July 1, 2019 Accepted: October 8, 2019 Online Published: October 21, 2019 doi:10.5539/ass.v15n11p48 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v15n11p48 Abstract Oil palm plantations are a potential commodity of Riau Province and the highest contributor to palm oil production in Indonesia. The development of agricultural science and technology, which is disseminated through various media, is a source of information for farmers. However, the availability of information sources does not guarantee that farmers will benefit from the information. This is influenced by media literacy from these farmers. This research aimed at analyzing the media’s literacy of oil palm farmers. The research was conducted in three districts with potential oil palm at Riau Province. They are Pelalawan District, Rokan Hilir District and Rokan Hulu District. The respondents of oil palm farmers were 185 farmers, which were selected by stratified random sampling. This research applied Likert Summated Rating Scale (LSRS) method. The results of this research are: The literacy level of oil palm farmers is in the medium level (average score of 1.72), while for three aspects which are technical skill and critical understanding are in the medium level and communication skill is basic level. Role of government and related parties are needed to help improve the literacy level of oil palm farmers. This is necessary so that the farmers together with extension workers, will be ready to face the challenge of the development of science and technology in the oil palm industry, by utilizing the development of information and communication technologies such as smartphones. Keywords: media literacy, communication, oil palm farmer 1. Introduction According to Mittal (2019), in the agricultural community cell phone use continues to increase. The results of the Mwakaje’s research (2010) show that most farmers use information and communication technology to access information. The results of Chhaachhar’s research (2014) on the use of information and communication technology such as the internet, mobile phone, radio and television, have been able to provide knowledge and information to farmers in developing their agriculture. According to Lamotey (2018), mobile phone technology used to access agricultural information can maximize the quality and quantity of agricultural production. One of the supporting conditions for the development of agriculture is an agricultural extension. Therefore, the role of agricultural extension is very important for the development of farming communities. Media is one element of agricultural extension which is used as a medium for conveying messages, information, knowledge and technology to farmers. Two parties that are directly involved in the extension activities and in determining the success of communication are the extension workers and farmers. The extension workers convey the message and the farmers receive the message or vice versa. The results of Altalb’s research (2015), stated that the importance of agricultural extension workers role in the technology transfer. The results of Ali’s research (2018) show that farmers are still limited in getting the ability to use information and communication technology for farm management of extension workers. According to Schmidt (2012), it is important that all members of the society develop competencies related to media use, creation, and analysis in order to both participate in a democratic culture and compete in the modern workforce. A person’s perspective on media messages dictates how he responds to every message that comes to him and how he behaves. Individual competency is a person’s ability to use the media. Some capabilities to utilize the media include the ability to use, produce, analyze, and communicate messages through media. Individual competency has two variables; personal competency and social competency. These two variables will illustrate the literacy level of the farmers in accessing, analyzing, and evaluating the meaning of the images, sounds,