Factors promoting agricultural research in Nigeria universities

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the factors promoting agricultural research in Nigerian universities. Stratified sampling technique was used to select respondents from two federal universities in each of the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, thus a total of twelve federal universities were used for the study with 471 of the total of academic staff in faculties/schools of agriculture in the twelve universities sampled. A set of structured questionnaire was developed and used to collect data for the study Data collected were analyzed using, mean and standard deviation. Major findings of the study showed that funding, collaboration and ICT promote agricultural research in Nigerian universities. The study also found that agricultural sciences research is not well funded in Nigerian federal universities as lecturers do not benefit from either university funded research nor government or agency funded research. Collaborative research is more prevalent within the country than across borders. Furthermore, agricultural research for various disciplines lack national coordination in Nigeria, The study recommended adequate funding of agricultural research by universities and government in Nigeria.

Keywords: Agriculture, Research, ICT, Nigeria