Occupational Skills Required by Secondary School Leavers in Sorghum Production for Wealth Creation in Kwara -State, Nigeria

Abstract

The importance of Sorghum to the livelihood of man cannot be underestimated as it serves as food for man, livestock feed and other forms of industrial use. Several youths, particularly idle secondary school graduates require an occupational skill as a sour ce of sustenance. This s t u d y t h e r e f o r e a s s e s s e d o c c u p a tio n al s kills r e q uir e d b y s e c o n d a r y s c h o ol g r a d u a t e s in s o r g h u m p r o d u c tio n f o r w e alt h c r e a tio n in K w a r a s t a t e . T w o r e s e a r c h q u e s tio n s a n d h y p o t h e s e s w e r e f o r m ula t e d t o g uid e t h e s t u d y . A p u r p o siv e s a m pl in g t e c h niq u e w a s employed to select One hundred and fifty (150) respondents, comprising 114 registered farmers and 36 extension agents. The design adopted was a descriptive survey type in which questionnaire with 38 skill items validated and reliability t ested was the instrument administered on the respondents. Mean was used to answer the research questions and t test statistics used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that all the 38 occupational skill items were required for sorghum production. It was recommended that Extension agents should organize workshops and training for the target youths and Government should also create skill acquisition centers to train unemployed youths.