ABSTRACT

 This study was aimed at identifying the soil conservation skills required by students of agriculture in post primary schools in Igbo-Eze-North LGA ofEnugu State. The study utilized a descriptive survey design with a five research questions which was developed and answered in line with the purpose ofthe study. The instrumentfor data collection was a researcher developed questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated by three experts, one from the department ofSoil Science and the other twofrom the Department ofAgricultural Education and Measurement and Evaluation respectively. The questionnaire was tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha method and the result showed a coefficient 0.85. The population is 192, comprising of 150 registered crop farmers and 42 Agricultural Science teachers in Igbo-Eze-North LGA. The sample size is 60 made up of38 registered cropfarmers and 22 Agriculture Science teachers all in Igbo-Eze-North L.G.A. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. T-test statistics was used to test the null hypothesis, it was found that the students ofagriculture in post primary school need soil conservation skills in the area ofplanting practices, conservative tillage, mulching, cover cropping and maintaining of soil PH, the result was found to have a significant difference in the mean responses of commercial crop farmer and teachers of agriculture on the skills required by students of agriculture in postprimary schoolfor plantingpractices, But there was no significant difference in the mean responses of commercial crop farmers and teachers of agriculture on the skills required by students ofagriculture in post primary schoolfor conservative tillage. Furthermore, it was found that there is a significant difference in the mean responses of commercial crop farmers and teachers ofagriculture on the skills required by students ofagriculture in Igbo-EzeNorth for cover cropping. From the work, the following recommendations were made among others; Agricultural teachers should be properly trained on how to impact the required crop conservation skills to the students. The state government should at all time provide adequate resources to the schoolsforproper teaching ofagricultural science.