Abstract:
The study was carried out to identify the entry-level competencies required by retiring secondary school teachers in quail bird production in Kogi east agricultural zone of kogi state. Five research questions were developed in consonance with what the study sought to find out. Five null hypotheses were also formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study used descriptive survey research design. The target population for the study was 120 comprising of thirty six (36) small scale quail farmers and eighty four (84) Agricultural Extension Agents in Kogi east agricultural zone of Kogi state. A structured questionnaire of seventy one (71) items was used to elicit response from the one hundred and twenty (120) respondents comprising of eighty four (84) agricultural extension agents and thirty six small-scale quail bird farmers in Kogi east agricultural zone of Kogi state. The instrument was face validated by three experts. The instrument was also tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha Method and the result showed a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.76. The data were collected and analysed using means to answer the research questions, and t-Test statistic for testing the null hypotheses. The findings from the study indicated that 17 competencies were identified as required for breeding quail birds, 17 competencies in housing quail birds, 15 competencies in quail bird health management, 11 competencies in feeding quail birds, and 11 competencies in marketing quail birds. The null hypotheses tested showed that there were no significant differences between the mean ratings of responses of quail bird farmers and extension agents on the entry-level competencies required by retiring secondary school teachers in quail bird production in Kogi east agricultural zone of kogi state. It was recommended that Government through the ministry of Agriculture should encourage retiring teachers to go into quail bird production to avoid or minimise wastage; Small-scale and commercial farmers should make use of the identified skills to improve their competencies in quail bird production; and that the identified competencies in this study should be packaged by the government and be integrated into the state’ skill acquisition centres where it could be used for training of retirees in quail bird production for self reliance.
