ABSTRACT

The study was focused on the identification of vocational competencies required by graduates of Agricultural Education in commercial yam production in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. Five research questions were posed in conformity with the purpose of the study. Five null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance at relevant degree of freedom. The study made use of descriptive survey research design. A structured questionnaire was generated from the literature reviewed for the study. The questionnaire was face validated by three experts, one from Department of Crop Science and two from Department of Agricultural and Home Economics Education, Michael Okpara Uriiversity of Agriculture, Umudike. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was determined using Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient. The reliability for the instrument was 0.84 for yam production planning and 0.72 marketing of yam. The population for the study was 110, comprising 90 yam farmers and 20 extension agents. 110 copies of the instrument were distributed to the respondents by the researcher. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while the t-test statistic was used in testing the hypotheses. The findings revealed that (9) competencies were required in planning for yam production, (11) competencies were required in planting of yam, (5) competencies were required in harvesting, (6) competencies were required in storage of yam, and (8) competencies were required in marketing of yam and its products. The result of the null hypothesis tested revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean rating of the groups of respondents on vocational competencies required by graduates of Agricultural Education for success in yam production enterprises. It was recommended that the identified competencies in this study should be packaged by the government and integrated into the programmes of skill acquisition centers where it could be used for training interested graduates of Agricultural Education and other unemployed youths in yam production.