Vegetable Gardening Skills Needed by Senior Secondary Schools Leavers for Gainful Self-Employment in Oyo State

Abstract

This study focused on vegetable gardening skills needed for gainful self-employment by senior secondary school leavers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Specifically, it determined skills needed by the school leavers in soil preparation; seed selection and planting; crop maintenance; harvesting and processing; and marketing vegetables. It adopted a descriptive research design. Population consisted of 978 Agricultural Science teachers and 343 vegetable farmers from Oyo State. Questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis involved mean, standard deviation, and t-test at 0.05 level of significance. Findings include 11 soil preparation skills. These include, clearing the site (X̅ =3.43) and others; 12 seed selection and planting skills, such as selecting high-quality vegetable seeds ( X̅ = 3.52) and protecting young seedlings from direct sun, heavy rain, and pests (X̅ =3.27) ; 10 crop maintenance skills, including application of fertilizers or compost (X̅ = 3.39) and pruning diseased or damaged leaves to improve crop health(X̅ =3.27); 15 harvesting and processing skills, which include harvesting vegetables carefully to prevent bruising or damage (X̅ = 3.55) and sorting vegetables by type, size, and freshness(X̅ =3.45); and 13 marketing skills, including, among others, identifying and targeting profitable customer groups (X̅ = 3.44). Four recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.