Training Needs of Rural Women in Agriculture for Increased Crop Production in Ebonyi State (Published)
The study focused on the Training needs of Rural Women in Agriculture for increased Crop Production in Ebonyi State. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Survey research design was adopted. The population for the study was 240 which comprised 150 registered female farmers and 90 extension agents in the three Agricultural Zones in the State. There was no sampling due to the manageable size of the population. Structured questionnaire containing a total of 21 items was the instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by three experts, two in Agricultural Education and one in Measurement and Evaluation all in Faculty of Education Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient method. A correlation of 0.76 was obtained. A total of 240 copies of the questionnaire were distributed by the researcher and three research assistants. All the 240 copies of the questionnaire distributed were properly filled and used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected while t- test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance at the appropriate degree of freedom. Findings among others was that women have difficulties in accessing farmland, improved seeds, chemicals for weed, pests and diseases control, Low level of basic education, lack of female extension agents to train them and it was recommended among others that land allocation should be reviewed to enable women have land for farming. They should be an organized training programme for women farmers by Ebonyi State Agricultural Development project.
Keywords: Agriculture, Ebonyi State, Rural Women, crop production, training needs
Conformity of Agriculture Vocational School Curriculum: Skill Competency of Agricultural Product Processing Agribusiness with the Needs of the World of Work (Published)
Vocational school (VS) aims to prepare students to work in industries or to create their own jobs. Therefore, it is important for VS to prepare students to have better competencies needed by industries. The study aims to 1) review the suitability of the competencies of agriculture vocational school graduates, skill competency of agricultural product processing agribusiness with the competencies needed by the world of work; and 2) review the pattern of synchronization mechanism of agriculture vocational school’s curriculum in the intended competencies. Secondary data ws analyzed combined with the result of Focus Group Discussion in sample areas of study. The research results showed that 1) curriculum of agriculture vocational schools in the skill competency of agricultural product processing agribusiness is in accordance with the competencies needed by the world of work based on Level II Indonesian National Work Qualification Certification Scheme. However, there are (a) “inapplicable” core competencies (CC -3 and CC -4) in the subjects of production and processing of plantation and herbal commodities, production and processing of hardwood commodities/products (coconut, palm oil and rubber). This is due to no plantations and/or industries for processing these commodities around the locations of the sample schools, (b) core competencies and basic competencies are lack depth in the competencies needed by the industry, namely identification of tubers, fresh fruits, and vegetables for the production unit on the subject of production of processing vegetable products, and 2) legally and formally, there is no pattern of synchronization mechanism of these competencies, the existing synchronization pattern is incidental based on input from the alumni of the sample schools and/or through consultations of schools with industry as partners. this study concluded that the skill competency of agricultural product processing agribusiness refers to level II Indonesian National Work Qualification Certification Scheme, but the implementation varies depends on schools’ facilities, quality of particularly teachers of productive subjects, and the collaboration with industrial partner.
Keywords: Agriculture, Competence, Curriculum, Skill, agribusiness, the world of work, vocational school