Evaluation of technical skills required by youth in palm oil production for self-employment in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study evaluates technical skills required by youth in oil palm production for self-reliance in Cross River State. The study adopted a survey research design. Three objectives, three research questions, and two hypotheses guided the study. The population for the study is 222, comprising137 youth (farmers) and 0.85 extension agents. There was no sampling because the researcher was able to manage the population. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled :Palm Oil Production Questionnaire (OPPQ). The questionnaire was face and content validated by three experts: one from the Department of Agricultural Education, one from the Department of Measurement, and one from the Department of Agronomy, all at Joseph Sarwaun Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State. To ensure the reliability of the instruments, they were trial tested on 15 agricultural extension agents and 15 palm oil processors in Benue State. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient method was used to compute the internal consistency of the instrument, which gives a coefficient of 0.89. The questionnaire was administered on a face-to-face basis by the researcher with the help of three research assistants ’familiar with the study area. The respondents were required to rate the questionnaire on a four-point scale of Highly Required=4, Required=3, Averagely Required=2, and Not Required=1, respectively. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation. The null hypotheses formulated were tested using a t-test at the 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that youth in the study area required skills in planting and post-planting operation of palm oil in 11 items, and to improve their standard of living, it was discovered that the youth required skills in 17 items in processing and marketing for efficient productivity for self-reliance. All the null hypotheses were rejected. It was therefore recommended that skills required in planning should be incorporated into the programme of the entrepreneurship centre for training of youth for better production of palm oil in the area.