Development of Instructional Package on Cassava Enterprises for the Training of Secondary School Graduates in Ebonyi State Skill Acquisition Centres

Abstract

The cassava enterprise aspect of agricultural skill acquisition does not exist in the state skill acquisition centre for training secondary school graduates. This study therefore sought to develop work-skills in cassava enterprises for training of secondary school graduates in Ebonyi State skill acquisition centers. Three research questions guided the study. Survey research design was adopted. The population for the study was 500 made up of 450 registered cassava farmers and 50 agricultural science teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 153 respondents. The instrument was a questionnaire used to elicit information from the respondents for developing the training package. Three experts validated the instrument. Data collected through the instrument were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for answering research questions. The results indicate 16 work-skills on cassava production practices, 10 work-skills on processing and 8 work-skills on marketing activities. These work-skills formed the training package. It was then recommended that the administrators of skill acquisition should use the training package for training. The state government should mobilize secondary school graduates for the training on the identified work-skills in the skill training centers. Keywords: instructional package, cassava enterprise, training, graduates, skill acquisition DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-9-03 Publication date: March 31 st 2022