Roles of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Enhancing Agricultural Education Graduates’ Employability in Agribusiness in South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

The study determined the roles of ICT in enhancing agricultural education graduate employability in agribusiness in South East, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated in line with the specific purposes of the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and it was carried out in federal universities in South East, Nigeria that offer Agricultural Education programme. A population of 68 which consisted of 40 agricultural education lecturers and 18 technical instructors/technologists were studied. There was no sampling since the population was small and manageable. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire was face-validated by three experts (two lecturers from the Department of Agricultural Education and one lecturer from the Department of Computer and Robotics Education; both in University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Also, the reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha reliability test and a grand value of 0.87 co-efficient was obtained indicating that the instrument was reliable and suitable for the study. The data collected from the study was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The results from the study found ten (10) agribusiness job opportunities available for agricultural education graduates; ten (10) ICT skills needed for agricultural education graduates’ employability in agribusiness; and ten (10) roles of ICT in enhancing agricultural education graduates’ employability in agribusiness. Based on the findings, it was concluded that ICT plays a vital role in agricultural education graduates’ employability in agribusiness. It was recommended that agricultural education programme at university level should integrate ICT literacy into her curriculum