Plantain Processing Skills Needed by Secondary School Graduates for Self-Reliance in Enugu State

Abstract

The study focused on plantain processing skills needed by secondary school graduates for self-reliance in Enugu State. The study was carried out in Enugu State using a survey research design. The study was guided by four research questions. The population for the study was 279 made up of 253 agricultural science teachers and 26 local plantain processing in Enugu State. A sample random sampling techniques was used to sample 86 teachers and the entire 26 plantain processing were used. Giving a sample size of 112 respondents. The instrument for data collection was a 27-item questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instrument was structured using a four-point rating scale for data collection and was validated by three experts, two from agricultural education programme and one from measurement and evaluation unit of Enugu State University of Science and Technology. Data was collected by the researcher with the help of two research assistants selected based on their familiarity with the study area. Out of 112 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 105 copies were properly filled and used for the study, and it represented 90.82% return rate. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The researcher found out that secondary school graduates highly need all the identified skills in processing plantain into dodo, flour, chips, and pudding for self-reliance in Enugu State. The study therefore concludes that, secondary school agricultural science graduates need to be exposed to skills in processing plantain. Based
on the findings, it was recommended that the identified skills, in plantain processing be taught to students and encourage them to align with local processors for effectiveness to meet up with the standard required in the business world of today.