Level of Performance of Students in Tree Crop Seedlings Production Skills in Colleges of Agriculture in North-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the level of performance of students in tree crop seedlings production skills in Colleges of Agriculture in North-Eastern Nigeria. Five objectives and five research questions guided the study. Single-subject A/B research design was used. The population of the study was 924 students from four Colleges of Agriculture in the study area. The sample of the study was 272 respondents drawn using stratified proportionate random sampling technique from the population. A performance work sample test made up of 100 items was used to determine the level of skill performance of students in Colleges of Agriculture in North-Eastern Nigeria. The instrument was validated by five experts drawn from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, College of Agariculture Bauchi and Federal College of Horticulture Dadin Kowa, Gombe State. Reliability was established using test-retest method and Spearman rank order correlation co-efficient which yielded a reliabilty coefficient value of 0.80. The instrument was administered by the researcher with the help of four trained research assistants. Data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed that National Diploma (ND) II crop production students have exhibited high skill performance in pre-sowing operations, moderate skill performance in planting operations, high skill performance in nursery management, marketing and transplanting operations. It was recommended that teachers in Colleges of Agriculture should ensure regular practicals, demonstrations and supervision of (ND) II crop production students while conducting practical classes in tree crop seedlings production.