Perceived Impact of Demonstration Farms on Practical Skill Acquisition by Agricultural Education Undergraduates in Tertiary Institutions in Rivers State

Abstract

The study examined the perceived impact of demonstration farms on practical skill acquisition 
on agricultural education undergraduates in tertiary institutions in Rivers State. Three research 
questions were posed and three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of 
significance to guide the study. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The 
population of the study comprised 27 lecturers and 597 vocational agricultural education 
students’ in three tertiary institutions in the study area. A census and simple random sampling 
technique was employed were all 27 lecturers were used and from each level, 10 students’ were 
selected making a total of 150 students and a total sample size of 172 respondents. A research 
questionnaire was used for data collection, structured using Likert 5-point rating scale of 
agreement. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was used to test the instrument and was found 
to have 0.89 reliability coefficients. Data collected were analysed using mean statistics and 
standard deviation with an acceptance mean value of ≥3.00 whereas mean value ˂3.00 were 
rejected. Findings revealed that demonstration farm had impact on crop production skill 
acquisition of undergraduate in areas of testing the quality of good compost, crop transplanting,
soil management systems to increase nutrient, water retention and recharge, among others. 
Also, it revealed that it have impact on livestock production skill acquisition of undergraduates 
in areas of debeaking of poultry, livestock feed formulation, caponization/ castration, brooding 
in poultry production, and others. More so, it have impact on carrying out research studies on 
the farm, promoting networking which strengthening links, developing positive attitude toward 
crop/animal production, developing ability in keeping farm record, developing strong decision 
making skills, among others. Therefore, the study recommend that there is need for the 
establishment of a well functional agricultural demonstration farms in tertiary institutions as 
this will enable learners have their portion of demonstration plots to carry out practical works 
as to get hands-on experience in production practice; all undergraduate agricultural education 
students should be meant to carry out certain level of individual projects on production of either 
crops or livestock.