SKILL IMPROVEMENT NEEDS OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE TEACHERS IN FISHPOND CONSTRUCTION AND STOCKING OF FINGERLINGS AS A SUPPORT BUSINESS IN EASTERN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

The purpose of this study was to determine the skill improvement needs of agricultural science teachers in pond construction and stocking of fingerlings as a support business in Eastern Kogi State, Nigeria. The study had two specific objectives, two research questions and tested two hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Literature was reviewed in line with the variables under study. The study adopted survey design. The population of the study was 235 from which 85 was taken through purposive sampling technique. A 26 item researcher - made questionnaire was used for data collection. It was face validated by two experts from agricultural education unit of vocational education department and one expert of measurement and evaluation. A reliability co-efficient of 0.89 was obtained using Cronbach alpha technique. The data obtained were coded and manipulated using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while the two hypotheses were tested using independence t-test at 0.05 level of significance and 83 degree of freedom. The findings revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean rating of male and female agricultural science teachers on their skill improvement needs in all the skills identified in the study area. Based on the findings it was recommended among others that the identified skills should be package into a retraining programme to enable secondary school teachers to have a support business.