Skills Required by Agricultural Education Students for Successful Operation of Farm Workshops in Rivers State Tertiary Institutions

Abstract:

The study investigated the skills required by agricultural education students for the successful operation of farm workshops in Rivers State Tertiary Institutions. The purpose of the study was to determine the mechanization, management, and crop and soil operation skill required by agricultural education students for the successful operation of farm workshops in Rivers State Tertiary Institutions. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was all farm workshop technicians and agricultural education lecturers in the tertiary institutions in Rivers State. Due to the fact that the population was manageable, the study engaged all the population in the study. That is, census sampling was used. The instrument used in this study was a self-structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by experts, the instrument was also tested for reliability using Kuder Richardson-20, which yielded a coefficient index of 0.89. The data collected through this instrument was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The hypotheses were tested using a t-test at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed the ability to operate tractors properly, ability to fix farm implements on the power take-off shaft, ability to maintain workshop tools and machines, ability to observe tool and machine maintenance and care, communication and human relationship skills, ability to process local crops, ability to use farm machine for crop management activities among others are farm workshop skill required for the successful operation of agricultural workshops. It was recommended that the agricultural education curriculum should include students’ workshop practice for students to properly acquire mechanization skills during their academic program.