Technical Skill needs of Senior Secondary School Graduates for Employment in Apiculture Industry in Rural Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

The study investigated technical skills needed by Senior Secondary School (SSS) graduates for Employment in Apiculture Industry. Specifically, it determined skills in beehive management, honeybee harvesting, and honey processing. It tested three hypotheses (HOs) at 0.05 level of significance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. Population included all 64 agricultural extension officers, 127 senior agricultural science teachers and 16 registered beekeepers making a total of 207 respondents for the study. A-48 item questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analysed using mean, standard deviation and ANOVA level. Findings include: 15 viable beehive management skills needed by SSS graduates. These include, among others, ability to: provide adequate security (X̅=2.76). Other findings are 12 honey harvesting skills. These are abilities to determine when there is honey in comb, use smokers in harvesting bee product (X̅ =2.78) among others. Other findings are 15 processing skills which include, among others, ability to separate honey from comb ( X̅ =2.86). There was no significant difference among the mean responses of the three categories of respondents regarding the three HOs tested by the study. It was recommended that the technical skills identified be incorporated into SSS agricultural science curriculum for teaching honeybee production in schools, among other