Email this article SKILLS NEEDED FOR PRODUCTIVE GRASSCUTTER REARING AT THE RURAL LEVEL: THE CURRENT APPLICATION LEVEL AND IMPROVEMENT NEEDS OF THE FARMERS
Abstract
The study was carried out to determine the grasscutter rearing skill improvement needs of farmers for income enhancement and sustainable livelihood. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted Borich need assessment model. The population for the study was 126 comprised of 83 registered grasscutter farmers and 43 extension Agents. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using mean () and improvement need index (INI) to answer the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that 42 skill items were required while farmers needed improvementin 29items for effective grasscutter rearing. The null hypotheses tested for the study at 0.05 level of significance showed that there were no significant differences between the mean responses of grasscutter farmers and agricultural extension agents on the skills required in entering into grasscutter rearing enterprise. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the identified skills be utilized in training target grasscutter farmers at the rural level where small scaled farming can be easily encouraged to strive.
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