THE PERCEPTION OF LANDMARK UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON TAKING FARMING AS A MEANS OF FUTURE LIVELIHOOD

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 ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to determine the perception of Landmark University Agricultural Students about farming as a means of future livelihood. A total of 120 students were randomly selected from Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Landmark University, Omu Aran. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from them. Data analysis was done using Frequency, pie charts, bar charts and percentages, Likert scale, as well as chi square. The respondents were young with average age of 21.7 years and they cut across major ethnic groups within the country. There were more males (55%) than females (45%) and the respondents were mostly of urban origin and belong to elite family of diverse educational and professional background. Most of the respondents (84.2%) agreed to study Agriculture as a career because it has a high potential for self-employment. Also, 66.6% of the students also stated that they chose to study Agriculture because they have interest in it. More than half of the students (60.8%) strongly disagreed that they were lured by their parents to study Agriculture which indicates that the decision to study Agriculture was a voluntary decision. Also respondents prefer to earn a living from Agricultural production outfits and were not willing to work in non-agricultural outfits like banks, brewery and industry jobs and politics. The major prevailing constraints hindering the practice of agriculture as a future livelihood are insufficient capital, land tenure problem, lack of access to tractors and other farm inputs, inadequate transport and storage facilities. The study recommends that Government should further stimulate agricultural production and processing by making people to have access to resources such as land, technology, credit, and training.

THE PERCEPTION OF LANDMARK UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON TAKING FARMING AS A MEANS OF FUTURE LIVELIHOOD