ABSTRACT

The study investigated the entrepreneurial skills required by secondary school graduates for sustainable fish production in Akwa Ibom State. Seven purposes guided the study. Seven research questions were developed and seven null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study was 600 subjects which comprised 461 fish farmers, 93 teachers of agriculture and 46 agricultural extension agents. The total populations were used due to its manageable size. A structured questionnaire developed from the literature reviewed was used for data collection. The questionnaire sought information in line with the purpose of the study. The questionnaire was face validated by three validates in the field of Agricultural Education while Cronbach alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. Copies of the questionnaires were administered and 596 copies were retrieved from the respondents with the help of two research assistants who were briefed on the instrument. The data collected was analyzed using means and standard deviation for answering research questions and analysis of variance (ANOVA) in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance (D). The study found that the entrepreneurial skills required in planning fish production were fifteen, which include among others: the ability to set goals for fish enterprise (what to achieve), gently determine locations for building the enterprise, identify major activities to be carried out to meet fish enterprise objective. In pond management there were fifteen skills, among which was the ability to maintain the pond well, seal the pond bottom and walls, and provide shade plants like plantain and banana beside the ponds. The study also found that there was no significant difference in mean responses of the three groups on the entrepreneurial skills in the seven clusters. The study concluded that the findings showed the entrepreneurial skills required by secondary school graduates for sustainable fish production in Akwa Ibom State. Among the recommendation made was that the Government of Akwa Ibom State should direct the Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition Centre to integrate the identified entrepreneurial skills into their skills acquisition programmes as this will facilitate the training of fish farmers and other interested youths for success in fish production enterprise. The identified entrepreneurial skills should be included into Junior and Senior Secondary Scho`ol Agricultures (Animal Husbandry) curriculum by the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Education.