Abstract:
The study was conducted to identify work-skill needs of secondary school graduates in plantain production in Anambra 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 the probability of 0.05 level of significance and 168 degree of freedom (df). A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 170 respondents, made up of 138 graduate teachers of agricultural science and 32 extension agents in Anambra state. The questionnaire was face validated by three experts and also tested for reliability using Conbach’s Alpha which yielded the reliability coefficient of 0.79. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions and t-test statistic was used for testing the null hypotheses. The findings revealed that secondary school graduates in Anambra State needed 7 work skills in site selection and land preparation for plantain production, 9 work-skills in planting of plantain, 11 work-skills in field management of plantain, 4 work-skills in harvesting of plantain, 9 work-skills in processing of plantain fruit into flour, 8 work-skill in processing of plantain into chips, 6 work-skills in processing of ripped plantain fruit into fried plantain, 6 work-skills in marketing of plantain products. Findings on the hypotheses tested revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of Agricultural science teachers and Extension Agents in relation to the work-skill needs of secondary school graduates in plantain production. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the work-skills identified should be packaged into training manuals for use in skill-acquisition centers and for integration into secondary school agricultural science curriculum.
