Assessment of Students ’ Attitude Towards Agricultural Science Subject in Secondary Schools in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State , Nigeria

The study assessed factors that influence students’ attitude towards agricultural science subject in secondary schools in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified career choice among secondary school students in agriculture; assessed students’ perception of career prospects in agriculture; and identified factors that influence students’ attitude towards agricultural science subject in secondary schools. A three staged random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents. Structured questionnaire was administered to the sampled respondents for data collection. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and mean score from a Likert type of scale. The results revealed that the major areas of interest in agriculture among secondary school students include agricultural engineering (65.8%) and food science (56.7%). Only 2.5% of the respondents were interested in agricultural education as a career. Perceptions of students on career prospects in agriculture were: poor societal value of farmers (M=3.6), tedious nature of agriculture (M=3.2), personal dislike for the profession (M=3.2), and poor wage/income in the profession (M-3.2). However, students’ attitude towards agricultural science subject was influenced by parents’ background, parents’ influence and tedious agricultural practical (M=2.3 respectively). It is recommended that career counselors in different schools should not relent in their efforts by giving proper orientation and awareness on agriculture as a noble and wealth creating profession. Also, funds should be made available to secondary schools for the purchase of modern farming implements such as tractor and other modernized equipment to enable the younger generation develop interest in the profession.


INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is an agrarian country with a robust agricultural sector at independence both in income and foreign exchange earnings.Despite the strategic importance of the sector, especially since 1970s, the role of the agricultural sector still remains significant to the economy, accounting for 34.47% and 40% growth in the economy in 2011 and 2012 respectively (National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 2013).It is in view of the strategic contributions of agriculture to the nation's economy vis-à-vis sustainable national development, that there is need to encourage the younger generations to take to agriculture as a career.
Certain factors influence the attitude of students towards choosing a particular subject.Ferry (2006) identified parental guidance as one of the socioeconomic factors affecting the choice of a subject.Early intervention in a child's career plays an important role in the choice of a subject like agricultural science.Farming, mostly opined as the product of agriculture is considered as a default career for villagers with little or no education in many rural communities.In some parts of the world, youths in rural areas with limited access to higher education may simply choose to inherit the family farm, and continue to raise cattle, manage poultry or tend to the corn crops (Wilson, 2008).The influence of peer groups is also an important factor in choosing a professional subject/career like agriculture (Azubuike, 2011).
Agricultural science as a subject has been offered in Nigerian schools for decades.However, there is a recent drop in the number of students that choose agricultural science among their list of subjects in senior secondary schools.Students are faced with the problem of indecision when they are about to choose a subject.This problem must be looked into taking into cognizance the role of secondary education in the educational development of a nation (Akubuilo, 1991).With good background, students still need to develop themselves on the subject areas they are keenly interested in and particularly where they have potentials.Most students have been found choosing subjects for senior school certificate examination not taking into consideration the aspect they can perform best or as directed by the school counselor.The available literature is however inconclusive on the major factors contributing towards the dropping of agriculture among secondary school students in the study area.Hence the study is intended to fill this knowledge gap.The study is therefore designed to provide answers to three key research questions: 1. What are the areas of interest in agriculture among secondary school students?2. What is the perception of students on their prospects in agriculture?3. What are the factors that influence students' attitude towards agricultural science subject?

Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study is to assess the attitude of students towards agricultural science subject in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria.The specific objectives were to: identify career choice in agriculture among secondary school students; examine the perception of secondary school students on the prospects in agriculture; and assess the factors that influence students' attitude towards agricultural science subject in the study area.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The The population for this study is made up of all students of senior secondary schools (SS1 -SS3) in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State.A three stage random sampling procedure was used for the study.In stage one, three districts of the LGA were selected, namely: Imane, Okpo and Ogugu.Secondly, two (2) public schools were randomly selected from each district, giving a total of six (6) public secondary schools with a population of 2,871 students in Senior Secondary School 1 and 2. Thirdly, twenty (20) students from each secondary school in Senior Secondary School 1 and 2 (SSS 1 and 2) were randomly selected.A total of 120 students were used for the study.Primary data collected through questionnaire administration were analyzed using descriptive statistics and mean score from Likert type of scale.The mean response to each item was calculated using the following formula: Where: = mean response, ∑ = summation, F = number of respondents choosing a particular scale point, X = numerical value of the scale point and N = total number of respondents.

Career Choice in Agriculture
Distribution of respondents according to career choice in the field of agriculture is presented in Table 1.
The result shows that majority (65.8%) of the students perceived higher prospects in Agricultural Engineering, 56.7% preferred Food Science, 47.5% had interest for Animal Science, 45.8% in Agricultural Economics, while 10%, 8.3% and 2.5% of the students preferred Agricultural Communication, Agronomy and Agricultural Education respectively.
Agricultural education had the least preference (2.5%) as most students did not have interest in teaching profession as a career.This is not surprising as it is common knowledge that secondary school students always wished to become Medical Doctors and Engineers which is also evident in the high percentage of students that had preference or prospect in Agricultural Engineering and other lucrative areas/sectors.The low percentage recorded in most careers in agriculture in the study area could be attributed to students' level of awareness and misconception on careers in agriculture.This finding agrees with Chee and Leong-Yong (2011) who reported that students have misconceptions of agriculture work-related careers because not only are they unaware of the types of jobs in this sector but they also have the impression that all jobs in this area have very low pay.

Students' Perception of the Prospects in Agriculture
Assessment of students' perception of the prospects in agriculture is presented in Table 2.The respondents further agreed that agriculture profession is associated with poor wage/income (M=3.2).The income from agriculture related activities was perceived as not being enough to take care of the expenses.Hence, farmers are generally perceived as being poor with low standard of living.This finding agrees with Edache (2006) who reported that farmers remain stagnated and their economic situations unimproved as daily income is less than one US Dollar per day.Consequently, agriculture remains unattractive to the youth leading to their movement to other sectors of the economy to grab better life.
Secondary school students in the study area further perceived that agriculture requires high labour (M=2.8) and that agriculture is all about farming (M=2.6).The labour requirements of agriculture could be attributed to the tedious nature of various farming operations.However, migration of youths to urban areas in search of white collar job robs agriculture of the necessary labour force for efficient production.This finding supports Edache (2006)  Some of the students had personal dislike for agricultural science due to their level of perception about future prospect in the field as seen in Table 3.This agrees with Berry (2004) who reported that the key factors that are the major contributors in student selection of subjects include: interest in the subject, perceived usefulness or importance of the subject, ability or success of the subject, career preference, subject combination for further studies, teachers' advice and the teaching strategy.
The result further shows that career guidance/mentors had no influence on students' attitude towards agricultural science subject in secondary schools in the area.Adebo and Sekumade (2013) reported that lack of guidance and counseling teachers in most secondary schools in Nigeria has really contributed to wrong choices of careers by youths.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study assessed attitude of secondary school students towards agricultural science subject.Students perceived that farmers have low societal value with low income from agriculture-related activities.Aside the labour requirements and tedious nature of agriculture practical, parents also influenced students' attitude towards agricultural science subject in secondary schools.
Based on the findings, the following recommendations are made: 1.
There should be proper awareness creation among secondary schools in the area on different career/disciplines in the field of agriculture.This will help in increasing students' knowledge and understanding of various job prospects in the field of agriculture and the its implications.

2.
Funds should be made available to secondary schools for the purchase of modern farming implements such as tractor and other modernized equipment.This will reduce drudgery and intensive labour requirement in agricultural activities.

3.
Career counselors in different schools should not relent in their efforts by giving the younger farmers sufficient orientation on the career opportunities that the knowledge of agriculture offers.This has to be given serious consideration to discourage parents dictate and students' hatred for agricultural science subject in senior secondary school.

4.
As part of the means to stimulate interest in agriculture, students should be encouraged to institute Young Farmers association/club in secondary schools and be active in carrying out operations on various farming enterprises.Ethics and benefits of the associations should be made known to the students so as to tap the opportunities offered.

CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS
ASO was responsible for the research design, supervision of the study and write up.EMH managed the literature searches and collected the data during the study.SMU processed and analyzed the data.ASO and SMU compiled and wrote the first and final write up for this article.All authors read and approved the final manuscript.