Agricultural Production Practices of Ex-trainees of Leventis Foundation School of Agriculture, Ilesa, Osun State.

Abstract

The study evaluated the agricultural production practices of the ex-trainees of Leventis Foundation School of Agriculture Nigeria. Specifically, the study assessed the socio-economic characteristics of the ex- trainees of the school, described the agricultural production systems/practices covered during their training period, determined their perception towards the relevance of the training programme and described their current agricultural production. A snow ball sampling procedure was used to select 130 respondents for the study. Data was collected from the ex-trainees using an interview schedule. Relevant descriptive and inferential statistics were used to summarize the data and test the hypotheses formulated respectively. Results showed that average age of the respondent is 28.4 years; most (90%) of the respondents were male and majority (80%) has at least secondary school education. The average family size of the respondents is approximately 3. The study revealed that arable crop and poultry production were among the leading production systems ex- trainees were exposed to during the training programme. Majority (95.4%) of the ex-trainees are currently involved in agriculture as their major occupation. Positive and significant relationship was established between age (r=0.315, p < 0.01), years of farm experience (r=0.363, p<0.01), household size (r=0.367, p<0.01) and ex-trainees' income from farming activities in the last cropping season. The study revealed that the involvement in agriculture of ex-trainees of Leventis Foundation School of Agriculture is highest in crop production. The study recommended that adequate infrastructure especially land for farming and capital be provided by government and/or non-governmental organizations for ex-trainees to expand production and contribute the more to combating hunger in the country.