Ibeku High School in Umuahia Municipality was chosen for this project based on the criteria set by the supervising bodies; the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria （ARCN）, and the coordinating Research Institute...Ibeku High School in Umuahia Municipality was chosen for this project based on the criteria set by the supervising bodies; the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria （ARCN）, and the coordinating Research Institute; the National Root Crops Research Institute （NRCRI）, Umudike. Adopting a participatory approach involving the research team, students and agricultural science teachers, some tuber and root crops-based technologies were demonstrated at the school farm. One hundred and nine respondents drawn for the study was to assess their interest and career in agriculture and occupational values. Students make important decisions that are strongly linked to their attitudes towards such activities. Poor student enrolment into agricultural professionals have been blamed on poor emolument of agricultural personnel and lack of motivational incentives in accordance with the nature of the profession among others, resulting to the profession＇s unattractiveness to young minds. In Nigeria, the attitude of youths towards agriculture as a profession has been responsible for the low level of agricultural production in the country. The main solution to the problem is getting young people involved in agriculture despite the fact that many people portray agriculture as a life of penury; thus the urgent need to change the negative view of agriculture and encourage them to embrace the vocation. The young people or youth have been identified as constituting the major resource base for any country which wants to embark on any meaningful agricultural and rural development projects. The focus of this study was to assess the influence of students＇ attitudes, enrolment and choice of agriculture as a profession in Ibeku High School in Umuahia Municipality. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents were males, while 41.0% were females and they were all single. About 9.1% of the respondents belonged to the Young Farmers＇ Club （YFC） at school, while a greater percentage of the students had interest in the pursuit of other careers than agriculture. The Government should enforce policies of establishing farms in schools, well equipped and with experienced teaching staff in agriculture to advance the profession to a higher level.展开更多
文摘Ibeku High School in Umuahia Municipality was chosen for this project based on the criteria set by the supervising bodies; the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria （ARCN）, and the coordinating Research Institute; the National Root Crops Research Institute （NRCRI）, Umudike. Adopting a participatory approach involving the research team, students and agricultural science teachers, some tuber and root crops-based technologies were demonstrated at the school farm. One hundred and nine respondents drawn for the study was to assess their interest and career in agriculture and occupational values. Students make important decisions that are strongly linked to their attitudes towards such activities. Poor student enrolment into agricultural professionals have been blamed on poor emolument of agricultural personnel and lack of motivational incentives in accordance with the nature of the profession among others, resulting to the profession＇s unattractiveness to young minds. In Nigeria, the attitude of youths towards agriculture as a profession has been responsible for the low level of agricultural production in the country. The main solution to the problem is getting young people involved in agriculture despite the fact that many people portray agriculture as a life of penury; thus the urgent need to change the negative view of agriculture and encourage them to embrace the vocation. The young people or youth have been identified as constituting the major resource base for any country which wants to embark on any meaningful agricultural and rural development projects. The focus of this study was to assess the influence of students＇ attitudes, enrolment and choice of agriculture as a profession in Ibeku High School in Umuahia Municipality. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents were males, while 41.0% were females and they were all single. About 9.1% of the respondents belonged to the Young Farmers＇ Club （YFC） at school, while a greater percentage of the students had interest in the pursuit of other careers than agriculture. The Government should enforce policies of establishing farms in schools, well equipped and with experienced teaching staff in agriculture to advance the profession to a higher level.
