Willingness to Practice Agriculture as a Career Among Agriculture Undergraduates in Imo State.
ABSTRACT
This study examined the willingness to practice agriculture as a career among agriculture undergraduates in Imo state by randomly sampling 100 undergraduate from three agriculture institutions in Imo state with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics.
Results revealed that a higher proportion of the undergraduate was male (52%) Christians (70%) and had parents who are more of civil servants. The majority (60%) were willing to go into agriculture-related enterprises with livestock production (30%) been the most preferred enterprise.
Major reasons for student’s willingness were identified to include a desire to be self-employed, lucrative nature of agriculture, and encouragement received during training.
Lack of credit load facilities to Agriculture graduates and unavailability of infrastructural facilities such as storage, processing, and marketing accesses were major reasons hindering undergraduates’ willingness to venture into Agriculture related enterprises.
This study concluded that Nigerian agriculture can still contribute significantly to the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product. For sustainable development to take place, this study recommended that affordable credit loan facilities should be made available to agriculture graduates as this will sustain their willingness to go into agriculture-related enterprises.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Cover page…………1-2
Certification…………3
Dedication…………4
Acknowledgement………….5
Abstract……….6
Chapter one
Background of the Study……….7
Statement of problem………4
The objective of the Study………5
Justification/significance of the study…….6
Hypothesis………….6
Chapter two
Literature review…….…7
Chapter three
3.0 Methodology…………15
3.1 Study area………..15
3.2 Sampling techniques………16
3.3 Data collection……………16
3.4 Method of data analysis……..16
Chapter four
4.0 Result and discussion……17
4.1 Socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents……17
4.2 Marital statues…….18
4.3 Gender…………19
4.4 Religion……20
4.5 Distribution by mothers’ occupation……20
4.6 Distribution by fathers’ occupation……23
4.7 Distribution by the membership of farmer’s association……23
4.8 Distribution by preferred course of study………23
4.9 Distribution of respondents by willingness…..26
4.10 Distribution of respondent based on reasons for willingness……………26
4.11 Distribution of respondent based on reasons for unwillingness…………28
4.12 Relationship between the respondent level of satisfaction and willingness…30
Chapter five
5.0 Summary, conclusion and recommendation……….31
5.1 Summary………31
5.2 Conclusion…………32
5.3 Recommendation………33
References…….34
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Agriculture was of great importance to Nigeria’s economy in the 1960s (Omorogiuwa, Zivkovic, and Ademoh, 2014). During this period, Nigeria was noted among world economies for exportation of crops such as shelled groundnuts, cocoa, palm oil, cotton, etc.
Aside from revenue generation from the exportation of cash crops, an average Nigerian looked well-fed (Edoka, Otajele, and Adejo, 2011) because food production was also at a sufficient level despite the use of the traditional means (hoes and cutlasses) by the local producers of these crops.
In buttressing the above point, Adesina (2012) noted that Nigeria accounted for 42% of the world’s total export of shelled groundnuts with a total export volume of 502,000 metric tonnes (MT) in 1961.
According to him, with 167,000MT which accounts for 27% of the world’s export of palm oil, Nigeria was the largest producer of palm oil in 1961.
In the discussion of the glory of Nigerian agriculture in the 1960s, cocoa farmers were noted for wealth in the early years of independence as Nigeria accounted for 18% of the global export volume for cocoa in 1961 (Adesina, 2012).
This enviable position of Nigerian agriculture was lost due to neglect of the sector as soon as the discovery of oil in the country. Now, Nigeria cannot boast of exporting significant quantities of these crops.
In fact, local food production is not sufficient to feed her teeming population. In 2008, Nigeria could not import shelled groundnut due to the incidence of aflatoxin which the country could not fix (Adesina, 2012).
With respect to palm oil, Nigeria’s export declined to 25,000MT in 2008 leaving Nigeria far behind Malaysia that took oil palm seedling from Nigeria to her country while Nigeria’s share of the global market for export of cocoa dropped to 8% also by 2008.
Aside from Nigeria’s lost glory in the exportation of cash crops, local production of food crops could no longer meet up with the food demand of Nigerians and hence importation seems to be the adopted alternative to ensure that citizen’s right to food is not infringed upon.
REFERENCES
Adah, A. and Chiama, P. (2014). 10 leading farms in Nigeria, their owners. LEADERSHIP (February 28, 2014 edition). Retrieved online on May 25, 2015.
Adebayo, K. and Okuneye, P. A. (2005). Economics of agricultural extension. In S. F. Adedoyin (Ed.). Agricultural Extension in Nigeria. Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria. Ilorin. Pp. 78-90
Ademola, A. and Ladele, A. A. (2005). Rural development process and practice. In S. F. Adedoyin (Ed.). Agricultural Extension in Nigeria. Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria. Ilorin. Pp. 139-144
Adesina, A. (2012). Transforming agriculture to grow Nigeria’s economy. A convocation lecture delivered at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. 18pp.
Ayanda, I. F., Olooto, F., Motunrayo, A., Abolaji, G. T., Yusuf, O. J. and Subair, S. K. (2012). Perception of Kwara Sate University agricultural students on farming as a means of future livelihood. International Journal o AgriScience, 2(11): 1053-1061
Ayanda, I. F., Yusuf, O. J. and Salawu, O. L. (2013). Farm practical training program for agricultural students: A case study of pioneer students, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 15(8): 25-41.
College of Agricultural Management, Rural Development and Consumer Studies – COLAMRUCS. (2005). COLAMRUCS Undergraduate Hand-book. 88pp.
Edoka, M. H., Otajele, S. D. and Adejo, S. O. (2011). The roles of Nigerian youth in food production: A case study of Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State. Journal of Environmental Issues and Agriculture in Developing Countries, 3(1):72-78
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