Abstract:
This study focused on the identification of entrepreneurial competencies required by secondary school graduates for employment in turkey production enterprises in Edo State, Nigeria. Three research questions were developed in agreement with the specific purposes of the study. Three null hypotheses of no significant difference were formulated and tested at probability 0.05 level of significance. The study makes use of descriptive survey research design. The study was carried out in Edo State. The population for the study was 424, made up of 245 Teachers of Agricultural Science, 35 registered turkey farmers and 144 Agricultural extension agents from the three senatorial districts of the State. The sample for the study was 230, made up of 123 teachers of Agricultural Science, 35 registered turkey farmers and 72 Agricultural extension agents. Proportionate (50%) stratified random sampling technique was use to select teachers of agricultural science and extension agents, while the entire population of registered turkey farmers were involved in the study as result its small size. Three sets of structured questionnaire were developed for obtaining information from the respondents. The three sets of questionnaire were validated by five experts. The Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire competency items and a coefficient of 0.76 for breeding and hatching of turkey eggs, 0.83 for brooding of poults to growers and 0.80 for rearing of growers to market weight enterprises were obtained. Three hired research assistants helped to administer 230 copies of the questionnaire the respondents. Three sets of the competency items questionnaire were administered on teachers of agricultural science and extension agents, while turkey farmers were given a set in their professional areas to respond to. A total of 225 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and analyzed. The Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses of no significant difference. The findings from the study revealed that the four modules with their corresponding seventy-four (74) competency items where required in breeding and hatching of turkey eggs, the four modules with their corresponding forty-eight (48) competency items were required in brooding of poults to growers and four modules with their corresponding fifty (50) competency items were required in rearing of growers to market weight enterprises. The result of the null hypotheses tested revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the three groups of respondents on the four modules with their corresponding 69 competency items in breeding and hatching of turkey eggs enterprise, there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the three groups of respondents on the four modules with their corresponding 45 competency items in brooding of poults to growers, and there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the three groups of respondents on the four modules with their corresponding 47 competency items in rearing of growers to market weight enterprise. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that the Government should direct the administrators of skill acquisitions centers to integrate the four modules for each programme with their corresponding competency items in turkey production for training unemployed secondary school graduates and other interested youths in any of the turkey production enterprises.
