Competency Improvement Needs of Crop Farmers in Soil Erosion Management in Enugu State

Abstract

This study focused on the identification of competency improvement needs of crop farmers in soil erosion management in Enugu State. Five research questions guided the study while four hypotheses were formulated and tested at probability of 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted survey research design. The study was carried out in Enugu State, made up of three agricultural zones - Awgu, Enugu and Nsukka. The population of study was 3,562 made up of 484 teachers of agriculture, 38 agricultural extension agents and 3,040 registered crop farmers from the three agricultural zones in the state. The sample of the study was 279, made up of 59 teachers of agriculture, 38 agricultural extension agents and 182 crop farmers. Proportionate (12%) random sampling technique was used to select the sample for teachers of agriculture and (6%) for crop farmers while the entire members of agricultural extension agents was utilized because of its small size. The questionnaire for the study was developed from the review of related literature and used to collect data for the study. The questionnaire was face-validated by three experts, two from Agricultural Education Unit of the Department of Vocational Teacher Education and one from the Department of Soil Science of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. It was tested for reliability using Cronbach’s alpha method which yielded a coefficient of 0.84. Eight research assistants helped in administering 279 copies of the questionnaire to the respondents. They were all retrieved and analyzed using weighted mean, standard deviation and Improvement Needed Index (INI) to answer the research questions, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to test the hypotheses of no significant difference. It was found out that 8 areas methods and their corresponding 84 competency cluster items were needed by farmers for soil erosion prevention and control. It was also found out that farmers needed improvement in the four modules and their corresponding competency cluster items in soil erosion prevention and control. The hypotheses tested showed that there is no significant difference in the opinions of teachers of agriculture, agricultural extension agents and crop farmers on 32 competency cluster items out of 84 competencies needed by farmers for soil erosion prevention and control in Enugu State. It was discovered among others, that there was a significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the three groups of respondents on 52 competency cluster items in soil erosion prevention and control. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made which include; that the 4 modules and their corresponding competency cluster items identified by the study be packaged into a training programme for skill acquisition centres in Enugu State for training and retraining of farmers in soil erosion prevention and control for increased crop production.