Essential Knowledge and Skills Required by Rural Farmers in Making Cell Phones Effective for Boosting Agricultural Production in Enugu State, Nigeria

摘要

The study determined the essential theoretical knowledge and skills required by rural farmers in making cell phones effective for boosting agricultural production in Enugu State. Five research questions guided the study while five null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population for the study was 87comprising 52 lecturers in tertiary institutions and 12 cell phone technicians and 23 extension agents. The sample size for the study was 87 made up of 52 lecturers in institutions, extension agents and 12 literate cell phone technicians in major towns in Enugu State. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select 12 literate cell phone technicians 23 extension agents while all the lecturers were studied. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire and three experts validated the instrument while Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the items and a coefficient of 0.88 was obtained. Mean was used to answer the five research questions while analysis of variance was used to test all the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found out 99 items; 32 knowledge and skills to obtain agricultural information, 19 agricultural information, 16 operational skills, 19 maintenance skills and 14 precautionary measures were required by rural farmers for using all kinds of cell phones. There was no significant difference in the mean responses of respondents on the essential theoretical knowledge and skills required by rural farmers for using all kinds of cell phones for boosting agricultural production. Based on these findings, recommended include that all the essential knowledge and skills determined in this study should be utilized to organize workshop for rural farmers. It was also recommended that trainers should adopt appropriate procedures for effective training of rural farmers using the determined knowledge and skills.