Assessment of Agricultural Education Needs for Women in Agricbusiness in Gombe Implications of Poverty Reduction
CHAPTER ONE
Research Objectives
The main objective of the study is to assess the agricultural education needs of women for crop agribusiness and its implications for poverty reduction. The study therefore specifically sought to:
i. determine the Agricultural Education needs of women for maximal productivity in their crop production, processing and marketing agribusinesses.
ii. ascertain the socioeconomic characteristics of the rural women
iii. identify the various crop agribusinesses undertaken by rural women
iv. estimate average returns on the various crop agribusinesses undertaken by women.
v. Establish existing barriers to efficient use of agricultural resources for profitable crop agribusinesses by rural women.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework
Concept of Needs
Needs are simply the differences between an individual’s current achievements and his/her desired accomplishments. Thus, needs most commonly represent discrepancies between the individuals ambitions and the results of his/her current performance (Watkins, West- Meiers & Visser 2012).
Improving performance, as used above is the move from achieving current results to accomplishing desired results. Thus, improving refers to the measured progress from a less- than-desirable state to a desirable state whereas performance refers to the results no matter the classification it is given by an organization i.e. products, outputs, outcomes, impacts, or some combination of these. Results are interrelated and interdependent; impacts depend on products, for instance, just as outputs should contribute to outcomes. Without the products of individual staff members, organizations would not have deliverables to provide to clients nor would communities benefit from the outcomes or effects of those deliverables. Therefore, alignment of results is critical to success, much more so than the titles we give those results. Embedded in the phrase improving performance is the notion that improving how people perform is also essential to accomplishing results, although performing and performance are not equivalent. Desired results are rarely accomplished without improvements in how people perform and therefore, performance is considered the combination of the process (that is, performing) and the desired results. Information need is construed in the sense of data or a set of data specially required enabling the user to make an appropriate decision on any related problem facing him or her at any particular time (Solomon 2002).
According to Dervin (1995), information represents an ordered reality about the nature of the world people live in. Research on information needs and information seeking concurs that information is tailored to the individual’s job and to their tasks within those jobs (Ingwerson 1996; Zeffane & Gul 1993).Information in an enterprise is important for the production process, the economy of products, technical quality, production capacity, and the market and market related needs, such as competitive intelligence. Mudukuti and Miller (2002) suggested that in the information age, dissemination of information and applying this information in the process of agricultural production will play a significant role in development of farm families. Similarly Sligo and Jameson (1992) have also stressed that farm women must be given training on latest technological skills and maximize production. Meanwhile, a pre-requisite to achieve this, is to assess the information needs of farm women. Information seeking behavior is a broad term encompassing the ways individuals articulate their information needs, seek, evaluate, and use the needed information. A cognition or information acquisition depends on the needs of individuals involved in special activities which may include various forms of agribusinesses. Information and communication sources could be classified into two broad types: internal and external. The information seeking process may require either or both of these sources. Information needs could be satisfied by either considering farm women individually as self-sustaining information systems or to look at them as a community interacting with each other and with systems within their immediate environment (Kempson 1986; Ikoja-Odongo & Ocholla 2003).A needs-assessment, according to the Borich concept, identifies the performance requirements and the “gap” between existing and needed information (Wingenbach, 2013). Altschuld and Witkin (1995) defined needs assessment as a series of procedures for identifying and describing both present and desired states in a specific context, deriving statements of need and placing the needs in order of priority for later action (Brasier, Barbercheck, Kiernan, Sachs, Schwartzberg &Trauger,2009).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The study utilized the descriptive survey research design. This design makes use of surveys to ask questions about people’s beliefs, opinions, characteristics, and behavior (Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen & Razavieh, 2010).The major purpose of descriptive research is to tell what Is (Mohan, 2011).Data are usually collected, organized, analyzed and described as they exist without interfering with them(Uzoagulu,2011).
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Presentation of results
Research Question One: What are the socio economic characteristics of the rural women involved in crop agribusiness?
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
This study assessed the agricultural education needs of rural women for crop agribusiness and poverty reduction in Edo state. Population of registered women involved in the production, processing and marketing agribusiness were obtained from the Edo state Agricultural development programme, ministry of Agriculture and natural resources and the ministry of commerce and industry. A total population of Two thousand, three hundred and forty nine (2,349) was got and proportionate stratified random sampling was used to obtain a representative sample for the study. The Yaro Yamane formula was employed to obtain a sample size of Seven hundred and eighty three (783) women for the study. Three different types of questionnaires each representing the three major sectors in crop agribusiness (production, processing and marketing) were utilized for this study. The instruments for the study were validated by a panel of experts comprising the supervisor, a lecturer in the department of Measurement and evaluation and an extension agent in the Edo state Agricultural Development Programme. The instrument was pilot tested on 10 respondents outside the study area. The reliability of the instruments was determined using the Cronbach’s alpha method after being administered once to thirty women (ten from each agribusiness sector) in Ovia North East local government area of Edo state yielding alpha values of 0.87, 0.80 and 0.75 for the three instruments on production, processing and marketing respectively. Data was collected by the researcher duly assisted by extension agents of the Edo State Agricultural Development Programme. Out of Seven hundred and eighty three (783) questionnaires administered, Seven hundred and fifty eight (758) were retrieved. Frequency distribution tables, simple percentages, and measures of central tendency, gross margin and regression analysis were used in the analysis of data. Significant difference was found in the educational needs of the women involved in the different sectors of the crop agribusiness.
Conclusion
The conclusion of this study based on the findings obtained therein is that most of the rural women involved in agribusiness have poor basic educational back ground which prevents them from progressing in their business. Their lack of education limits them on every index ,impeding their ability to seek information that will enhance their agribusiness and preventing them from taking crucial decisions necessary for effecting the needed changes that would bring about increased profitability in their crop agribusinesses. The women would also require education in core areas of Agribusiness particularly sourcing fund for their businesses and accessing information channels that will enhance their agribusinesses.
Recommendations
The following recommendations have been proffered based on the findings of this study.
- Training in Agricultural Education should be organized specifically for women and such training should be structured such that differences among audience segments in their preferred learning styles and computed agricultural educational needs as generated from this study and patterned by gender, economic status, religion, and farming background, among other characteristics are taken in to consideration.
- Extension research should be intensified on crops other than the cassava crop with high economic potential focusing on value addition and efficient means of disseminating market news to farmers especially low income rural women groups. This step will save the rural women from exploitation by middlemen, strengthen their bargaining capacity and equip them for effective and productive investments in agribusiness.
- Opportunities should be developed to interact with women farmers in educational and other professional settings. Greater knowledge of this audience provides educators with a fuller understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities women farmers face and enhances the likelihood of creating programs that meet their needs.
- There should be collaboration between extension personnel and successful women and professionals in the field of Agribusiness in order to bring new approaches for programming to women farmers.
- Regular needs assessments with both existing and emerging audiences should be encouraged using demographic data that identify population changes. Programs should be topically and pedagogically appropriate for these audiences.
REFERENCES
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