Competencies Needed By Farmers For Increasing Yam Production In Agbani Agricultural Zone In Enugu State
Nwosu P. I. Ph.D
Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu.
Nsude, J. C.
Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu.
Keywords: Competencies, farmers, production.
Abstract
: The study was designed to determine the competencies needed by farmers for increasing yam production in Agbani Agricultural zone of Enugu State. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The area of study was Agbani Agricultural zone which consists of three Local Government Areas. The population of the study was 100 which comprised of 80 registered yam farmers from Agbani Agricultural Zone and 20 extension agents from Agricultural Development Programme (Agbani Zone). No sampling was done because the population was manageable. The instrument used for collecting data was a structured questionnaire which was developed by the researcher and validated by three expect from the Department of Technology and Vocational Education, and two experts from Measurement and Evaluation in Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Education, all form Faculty of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology. Mean statistics was used in analyzing the data. The result of the study showed that the respondents agreed to all the competencies needed by farmers in land preparation, planting and field management for increasing yam production in Agbani Agricultural zone. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made among other that the identified competencies should be packaged by the government and integrated into skill acquisition centers where it could be used for training farmers and interested unemployed youths in yam production. Curriculum planners should consider the identified competencies and include them in the school curriculum for teaching agricultural science