Effect of Agricultural Knowledge and Utilization on Agricultural Practices among Secondary School Pupils in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the use of agricultural knowledge and information among pupils of secondary schools in Oyo State. Using multi stage sampling technique, 175 pupils offering agriculture were sampled across secondary schools in Oyo State and structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on their personal characteristics, level of exposure to agricultural knowledge taught in schools, attitude to farming as an occupation and utilization of knowledge and skills acquired on agricultural science on the farm of parents. About 56.6% of respondents possessed personal farmlands while 28.6% worked as paid labour on other people’s farm. Majority (74.3%) indicated levels of exposure above low and an overwhelming proportion (82.9%) indicated favourable attitude to farming as an occupation. Utilization of knowledge and skills acquired from agricultural science subjects in schools on the farm of parents by way of information sharing and field demonstration/experimentation was medium among majority (64.0%) and high among 22.3% of respondents. A significant relationship was observed between occupation of respondents’ parents, their possession of farmland (X² = 3.24, 6.29; p<0.05)) and their utilization of agricultural knowledge acquired in schools while respondents attitude correlated positively with their utilization of agricultural knowledge and information gained in schools (r =0.189, p<0.05). The study concluded that utilization and transfer of agricultural knowledge from classroom to field experimentation/implementation among students of agriculture is above average and is largely affected by access of the students to cultivable farmland and the type of livelihood engagements of their parents.