Integration of Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge and Practices into Nigeria Certificate in Education Agricultural Education Curriculum

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge is the experience people in a given community have developed overtime and continue to develop. It is based on experience, often tested over centuries of use, adapted to local culture and environment and is dynamic and changing. Any improvement and development of a nation’s agricultural growth and progress should be based on the country’s indigenous knowledge and practices and rooted in the nation’s educational system. Therefore, this study was designed to integrate indigenous Agricultural Knowledge and Practices (IAKP) into Nigeria Certificate in Education Agricultural Education Curriculum. The specific objectives were to determine; (i) the IAKP utilized by farmers in Agricultural productions, (ii) determine the objectives of IAKP to be integrated, (iii)determine the content for achieving the objectives of IAKP, (iv)determine the teaching methods that should be adopted in teaching IAKP,(v) determine the evaluation methods that should be adopted in assessing the objectives of IAKP, and (vi) determine the existing courses in which IAKP could be integrated in NCE Agricultural Education Curriculum. The study adopted descriptive survey design and Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and was conducted in South Eastern Nigeria. Six research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was 566 subjects made up of 120 aged Farmers, 361 Extension Agents and 85 Agricultural Education Lecturers in Colleges of Education in the study area. Total sample of 327 respondents were used for the study. This consisted of 60 farmers, 182 Extension Agents, and 85 lecturers. The instruments for data collection were a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. The questionnaire comprised 163 items arranged in five sections (A, B, C, D, and E). Each section sought information on the specific objectives of the study respectively. The instruments for data collection were subjected to face validation by 7 experts and the internal consistency of the instrument was established using cronbach alpha which yielded the reliability coefficients of 0.92, 0.85, 0.88, 0.82, and 0.91 respectively for the five sections .The questionnaire was administered through personal contact while the interview schedule was used to conduct Key Informant Interview(KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Data for research question one were analyzed qualitatively; descriptive statistics were used to answer research questions two to six while t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of probability. Based on the data analyzed, the following findings were made: (i) farmers utilized IAKP in various aspects of agricultural productions; (ii) nine specific IAKP objectives for integration into NCE Agriculture Education Curriculum were determined; (iii) different teaching methods; (iv) different evaluation techniques for assessing the objectives of IAKP; and (v) existing courses in which IAKP could be integrated in NCE Agricultural Education Curriculum were determined. Based on the findings of the study, conclusions were drawn and recommendations made which include (a) the need for proper documentation of IAKP utilized by farmers in agricultural production and integrate them into NCE curriculum for preservation and transfer to future generations; (b) policy makers should formulate policies that will promote the adoption and utilization of IAKP; and (c) Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’S) should sponsor research on IAKP.