DEVELOPMENT OF A TRAINING PROGRAMME IN COCOYAM PRODUCTION FOR  ENHANCING JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTHS  IN SOUTH  EAST  NIGERIA

Abstract

The study  was carried  out to develop  a training programme in cocoyam production for  enhancing job opportunities ofyouth  in South Eastern Nigeria.  The study  adopted research and development (R

& D)  design.  The study  was carried out in the South-East  states of Nigeria,  namely  Ahia,  Anambra,

Ebonyi,  Enugu  and Imo states.  The population  of the study  was  5075  made  up  21  lecturers,  292 extension agents and 4510 registered  cocoyam farmers  all from  South-East  Nigeria.  The sample for the study  was  763 made up  of 21 lecturers  of agricultural  education  in universities,  292 extension agents  and 451 registered  cocoyam farmers,  all from  South-East  Nigeria.  The entire populations of lecturers  and extension  agents  were studied  while proportionate random  sampling techniques  were used  to pick  10%  of registered  farmers  .  Three  sets  of questionnaire   were  developed from  the literature reviewed by the researcher and utilized to obtain data from  the respondents.  The three sets of questionnaire  were face  validated  by  three  (3)  experts.  Cronbach  alpha reliability  method  was used  to  determine   the  internal  consistency   of the  questionnaire   items  and  an  overall  reliability coefficient  of  0.95   was   obtained.    Ten   assistants    helped   the   researcher    to   administer    the questionnaire  to three groups  of respondents.  Data collected  were analyzed  using weighted  mean to answer the research  questions  while ANO VA statistic  was used to test hypotheses one to four and t• testfor hypothesis five;  all at the probability of 0. 05 and appropriate degrees  offreedom.  The study found out that three clusters  with  JO  corresponding items  (4  in growing,  3 in processing and  3 in marketing  enterprises) were relevant  as the objectives  of cocoyam  training programme.  Six  clusters with 60 corresponding competency items and 18 materials  were required as the content of cocoyam training programme.  Three  cluster  items  with their  43 corresponding item  and  14 materials  were required for  training  the youth  in cocoyam production.  Three clusters  with their corresponding 36 items on the procedure to be adopted in training youths  in cocoyam production were identified  as required.   Five   items   were   required   as   the  procedure  for  packaging   developed  production programme.  The study  also found out that there was no significant  difference  in the mean ratings of the respondents on  the hypotheses  tested.  The  study  recommended  that  the packaged programme should   be  utilized   in  training  youth   in  any  of the  cocoyam   enterprises  to  enhance   their job opportunities.

CHAPTER  ONE

Background  of the Study

INTRODUCTION

Cocoyam is a tuber crop that is highly valued by the people of South-East Nigeria because of its value.  Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) is a tuber crop with broad leaves attached to long soft stem (Uguru,  1996).  The  long  soft  stem  is  connected  directly  to  the  corm.  Food  and  Agricultural organization (FAO, 2006) explained that cocoyam which is botanically called Colocasia esculenta is a tuber crop that is edible and belongs to the family of Araceae.  It is an annual crop used as food in most parts of the world especially in Asia and Nigeria.  It is an annual tropical plant primarily grown as a root and leafy vegetable crop for its edible starchy corm, and leaves. Cocoyam has two major varieties namely Xanthosoma  sagitifollium which is mainly referred to as tannia or new cocoyam. Xanthosoma variety originated from Central and South America in the 19th century; it then spread to other parts of the world.  The other variety (Taro Colocasia esculenta)  which originated from India and spread to Egypt  and Nigeria  are of two  types  Eddoe  which  has relatively  small  corm  and Dasheen which has a large central corm with numerous but small cormels.  Edet and Nsikak (2007), identified  two  major  varieties  of cocoyam  that  are  generally  grown  in  Nigeria  as  Cococasia esculenta scott taro and Xanthosoma sagittifolium  or scot tannia. These two varieties are produced in Nigeria for national and international consumption.

Nigeria was leading in the production  of cocoyam in 2003  as the country produced  about

3.5metric tons of the crop (FAO, 2006). This quantity, the author noted, contributed to about 40% of the world’s cocoyam.  Echebiri  (2008)  stated that the crop ranks  3″ among the root tuber  crops cultivated  and consumed  in Nigeria.  The crop  is grown  in marginal  soils by farmers  especially women.  IITA (2007) reported that the crop when harvested can be fried, boiled or roasted and eaten with oil or pounded  after boiling  and eaten with  soup as foo-foo.  According  to Information  and

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Communication  Support for Agricultural  Growth in Nigeria,  (ICSAGN) (2012),  cocoyam cormels are peeled,  cut into pieces then boiled and eaten;  or boiled,  pounded  and eaten like pounded yam while flour is made from dried cormels,  and used for confectionary;  the leaves are harvested,  dried and used as vegetable during dry season while the fresh broad leaves are used for wrapping kolanut and bitter-cola. Uchegbu (1994) stated that raw sundried cocoyam can be used in the diet of finisher broilers for up to 15% inclusion level without being detrimental to their performance. In the view of Ohaemenyi (1998) the cooked and dried cocoyam corms and cormels can be used as food for man during lean periods and for in feeding pigs.

Cocoyam is consumed because of the nutritional content and other values.  Millions of people depend on cocoyam in Africa,  Asia and Latin America  as it  is the 3″  most important  sources of calories  after rice  and yam (FOA,  2006) ..   International  Institute  for Tropical  Agriculture  (IITA) (2007) reported that cocoyam is an important food crop which when consumed supplies protein and carbohydrates.  Lyong and Nzietchueng  (1986) stated that cocoyam has nutritional  advantage  over other root tuber crops as it contains higher crude protein and highly digestible starch in addition to the presence of calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A and B.  Opara (2002) explained that the crop contributes to the carbohydrate content of diets in many regions of developing countries as it is a major staple in some parts of tropical and subtropical areas of the world..  Cocoyam can be used in preparation  of different  types of food using various parts.  Onwubuya and Ajani  (2012) stated that the leaves are nutritious containing a lot of minerals and vitamins especially thiamine.

The   author   concluded   that   the   crop   contains   nutrients   like  water,   protein,   lipids, carbohydrates,  minerals and vitamins which are more than 50% of what are required to nourish the body.  Sheba and Padmaja  (2001)  observed that cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium)   soft variety that is used as soup thickener contains some levels of Gynogenic glycosides and hydrogen cyanide

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which are very poisonous  to health when taken but the poisons elements can be reduced to safer limits by processing (peeling, slicing, boiling, fermenting and sun-drying). Due to the importance of cocoyam, many farmers especially women engage in its production.

Production  is  the planting  of a given crop which progresses  from young seedling through subsequent phases of growth and development  to the mature harvestable product  (Harper,  1999). Production can also be defined as the combination of different  inputs  or resources with the aim of creating  a  given  output  (Uko,  2003).  In  the  view  of Ekong  in  Ella  (2003)  production  is the management  of factors like land, labour and capital including  entrepreneur to create goods for the improvement  of the economic status of an individual  and the living standard of society members. Iwena (2008) defined production as all the activities geared towards creation of goods and services for man’s benefit.  Production  in this  study  is the utilizations  of land,  capital  and labour by the farmers to grow, process  and market  cocoyam in Nigeria  especially  in South-east Nigeria  where climate is favourable  for its production.  Production  of any crop involves  complex  stages or steps such as growing (pre-planting planting,  post-planting,  harvesting); processing  into flour and chips and marketing  of the products.  It therefore, means that cocoyam production  requires  many steps before the tangible corms or cormels are harvested  and processed.   The major  steps are growing, processing  and  marketing  of the product.  For effective  cocoyam production,  an individual must possess the necessary competencies.

Competency,  in the view of Klemp (2000), is an underlying characteristic of a person which results in effective and superior performance of a job.  That is,  a cluster or related knowledge,  skills and attitudes that reflects in a major portion of one’s job (a role or responsibility) which correlates with performance  on the job,  and measured  with well accepted  standards  and can be  improved through training and development.  Competency,  according to Krevisky and Jordan (1994),  is the

ability  to  possess  suitable  and  sufficient  knowledge,  skills  and  expenence  for  carrying  out  a particular task. Olaitan and Ali (1997) defined competence as the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required  for  successful  performance  of a given  task.  Spenser  in  Amusa  (2010)  stated  that competency  refers  to  a standardized  requirements  based  on which  an individual performs  a job properly.  Competency,  therefore,  means the knowledge,  skills and attitudes required by individuals in cocoyam production for increase in the availability of the crop in the country especially in South East Nigeria.  Competency  is made up of clusters and related knowledge,  skills and attitudes that could possessed by youth..

Youth in the view of United Nation  General Assembly report  (1995) is a group of young individuals  within  the  age bracket  of 15-24years.    National  Youth  Development  Policy  (2001) defined youth as people aged 18-35  while Wyld (2006) said that it is a period of life before middle age which is between childhood and physical maturity of an individual. In this study, youth refers to young adults (people) in South-East Nigeria that are energetic and are within the age range of 18-35 who could be encouraged to enter into cocoyam production.  That is, they are people who have gone to school either secondary or tertiary but could not get employment to earn a living. The youth are energetic and seek for job opportunities that could enhance their living standard.

The youths in South Eastern Nigeria search for employment that can make them earn a living and many farmers who engage in cocoyam production  are becoming old and so youth can take up the production  if properly  equipped  with the required  competency,  that  is,  they need to possess competencies   in  cocoyam   growing,  processing   and  marketing   to   enable  them   increase  the availability  of cocoyam which correlates  with performance  on the job, and are measured  against accepted  standards that  is  improved practice with the help of lecturers  in formal institutions and extension agent in informal settings.

Lecturers  in formal institutions are therefore  competent  individuals that are equipped with pedagogical and technical competencies to enable them teach students (extension agent inclusive) to make them  competent  for field work.  Lecturers  and extension  agents  are  considered  competent enough to provide information  on the objectives,  contents,  materials and instructional procedures due to their experience.  That is,  the wide experience of the lecturers and extension agents were of great benefit to the study as they have wide knowledge of cocoyam production and their input to the study helped in producing a quality package for training individuals.

Training is a planned  systematic modification  of behaviour  achieved through programmed learning  activities  which results  in the participants  achieving  the  level of knowledge,  skills and attitudes to carry out a given task or work effectively  (Gordon,  1992) ..  In the opinion of Dahama (2009), training involves helping people to become more qualified and proficient in doing some job. Onuka (2008) defined training as a skill acquisition process through which youths are taught new knowledge and skills and how to apply them. Amusa, Alkali and Oketobo (2010) explained training as a process  of preparing  an individual  for a job.  It,  therefore,  means that training  is the act of exposing the youth in the study area to the competencies in cocoyam production and teaching them how to grow the crop so that they can earn their living and also make the crop more available in the country.  The objectives of training youth in any occupation or job,  as observed by Onuka (2008), is to assist them to acquire relevant  competencies  in all aspects of any production  activities so as to increase their productive  capacity through practical activities.  Audu (2010)  stated that training is a pre-requisite  for man power  development  and economic  growth  of a nation.  The  author  further explained that training people  in an organization  is  very important because it helps them become equipped with the capacity to plan,  and execute the necessary activities for the achievement  of the

set objectives.   For effective  training  to take place in cocoyam production,  it is necessary  to prepare the package in form of a programme.

A Programme  is a series of action or activities that are planned  to be carried out by a group of  individuals   (Sinclair,   1999) ..   Programme   could  also  mean  a  plan  of  activities   that  requires manipulation  of materials  in the  course  of performing  necessary  task  (Olaitan, Igbo, Nwachukwu, Onyemachi  &  Ekong,   1999).  In  the  view  of Olaitan  and  Ndomi  (2000),  a programme  refers  to planned  activities to be carried  out or executed. In the opinion  of Murah  (2010),  a programme  is a structure  created  to coordinate,  direct  and oversee  the  implementation of a project.  A programme, according to Asogwa  (2010) is a planned  list of instructions  to be executed  in a logical order during learning or training.  A Programme  is therefore a planned activity  in cocoyam production  which is to be utilized by trainers to equip the youth in South-east Nigeria with the required  competences  so that they can be gainfully  employed.  A training  programme  in cocoyam  production  would  create  many job opportunities  for the youth if effectively developed programme.

Programme  development  is the act of making  something  more organized  so that individuals that are exposed to it earn more income  or are prepared  for a gainful employment  Quirk (1995) ..  To develop  a programme,  that  is well organized,  requires  certain process  which  includes  identification of objectives,  content,  appropriate  materials and training procedure  in addition to evaluation method, In  this  case,  a  developed  programme   is  a  package   curriculum   containing   objectives,  content, materials, training procedure.

Objectives are intended  learning outcomes of a planned programme  (Eraut,  1991 ) ..  Objective according to Burbank and Pett (2007) are what learners are expected to know, do, create or feel after undergoing   a  learning  process.  It  could  mean  the  behaviour   which  those  that  participate   in  the programme  are expected  to exhibit after the training.  Olaitan  and Ali (1997) made it clear that well

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specified  objectives  bring  clarity  in  designing  and  implementing  the  curriculum  content  of a programme.

Content  according to Anyanwu  (1996)  is  the  subject  matter  material  that  is  presented  to learners under the guidance of a teacher or any other medium.  Olaitan and Ali (1997) viewed content as the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to be learnt in a course or subject. Content according to Osinem (2008) means the knowledge,  skills,  attitudes and values to be learned.  In the context of this study,  content refers to the competencies  (knowledge,  skills,  and attitudes)  required  in cocoyam growing,  processing and marketing which are to be taught to youth in South-East Nigeria.  It could also be described as the competencies  in cocoyam production that are developed into a programme for training  youth so as to enhance their job  opportunities  in the study area.  The content of any programme is broken down into topics, teacher’s activities, learners’ activities, with specified instructional materials  and evaluation procedure  to measure achievement  so that the learners can gradually achieve the broad objectives of the programme.  The content according to Nzewi,  Opkara, Akudolu and Anyanwu (1996), must be comprehensive, learnable and arranged sequentially. Nwachukwu  (1998)  indicated  that  learners’  interest  must  be taken  into  consideration  as  it  is  a motivating  factor  to  learning  the  content.    That  is,  the  youth  that  are  interested  in  cocoyam production will be considered during training.  The interest of the youths in cocoyam production was determined  through  personal   interaction  with  the  researcher   in  order  to  provide  appropriate objectives and content of the programme.  The content of cocoyam production training programme include growing (with bias in planning  for cocoyam production, pre-planting  operations, planting operations  and  post  planting  operations);  processing   (planning  for  processing,  processing   of cocoyam into flour and chips) and marketing of the cocoyam products  in addition to the materials required in each case.

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Materials  according  to  Kolchaar  (2003)  in  economic  terms  are  all the  skill  developing resources that are required to facilitate the completion  of a project.  Materials therefore,  means the facilities that are to be utilized as teaching aids while training the youth how to produce cocoyam effectively. These materials include land, money, cocoyam set, farm implement and tools, equipment and machines among others (see Appendixes J,  K, L. pg.  141-143). These materials are to be utilized as the training is planned and during implementation making use of appropriate methods

Method of training in the view of Carr (2002) refers to approaches used in presenting  the subject  matter  to  the  trainees  while  evaluation  methods  are  ways  of determining  whether  the objective of the training is achieved.  That is,  assessing learners to check if what was intended was realized after the training.  When the objective,  content,  materials,  training procedure  are identified and packaged into a programme,  it means that there is an available developed programme that could be utilized for enhancing job opportunities of youth in the study areas ..

Enhancing  means the  act of raising  the strength,  worth  or value  or other qualities  of an individual  to  enable  such person  perform  well  in  an occupation  (Brain,  2011 ) ..  In the  view  of Gyanakoch  (2012)  enhancing  means  the  act  of improving  an  individual’s  capacity  for  better performance. In the context of this study, enhancing means the act ofraising the capacity of youth in South-east Nigeria so that they can be self-employed in any of the cocoyam production enterprises.

In South-east  Nigeria  many  farmers  engage  in  cocoyam production  due to the  favorable condition of the area.  Cocoyam is a tropical starchy tuberous root crop used mainly for human food and commonly  grown  amongst  small scale farmers who operate within the subsistence  economy (ICSAGN,  2012).  According  to  Shiyam,  Obiefuna,,  Ofoh,  Oko,  and  Uko,  (2007)  cocoyam  is intensively  cultivated  and consumed by the people  in South east Nigeria  due to high cost of the preferred  tubers  like yam  and the  increased  awareness  of the  industrial  and export  potential  of

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cassava  which  is widely  consumed  in Nigeria  in  various  food  forms.  There  is high  demand  of cassava for cash crop thus giving way to high patronage  of such crops like cocoyam. Devos and Wilson,  (1978) stated that few cultivation of cocoyam in the area is mainly in the hands of resource• poor old farmers who intercrop it with other food crops such as yams, cassava, maize, plantain and vegetable. Poly-Mba, Umunnakwe and Nnawuihe (2011) stated that production of cocoyam has been left to the mercy of old women in the village who have become weak with little initiative,  creativity and innovation.  Due to the fact that these farmers are aged and weak; there is low output of the crop which does not meet up with the demand.  Lyong and Nze (2004) observed that there is scarcity and increase  in the cost of cocoyam in the area as two hundred naira (N200)  worth of cocoyam in the market cannot be enough for making a little soup.  The author further indicated that there are many youth that do not engage in any meaningful job  in the area who could be encouraged to take up cocoyam production.  The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS,  2012)  put the figure of unemployed Nigerian youth at 23. 9 per cent an increase from 21.1 per cent in 2010 and 19. 7 per cent in 2009.

Many of these youth in the study area involve themselves in illegal activities like kidnapping, stealing among others due to idleness from unemployment. Ebomuche and Okezie (2010) stated that about 8  million graduates of tertiary institutions  are operating on social vices like armed robbery, kidnapping, 419 and yahoo:  yahoo and other crimes due to poverty and unavailability of meaningful job.  Dissatisfied  with  the  spate  of kidnappings  and general  insecurity  in  South-East  part  of the country, Okwara (2013) called on the state Governor oflmo state,  Owelle Rochas Okorocha, to as a matter of urgency rise up to the security challenges of the state to guarantee the safety of lives and property and further begged the government to beef up security of the area. Unuigbe,  (2013) averred that  there  is  urgent  need  to  tackle  the  increasing  youth unemployment  rate,  which  has  in  tum contributed to the insecurity situation rocking the area.  These young adults could be reached via the

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platform of Agriculture by developing different agricultural programmes to keep them busy.  Ogbazi (2010) advocated for the development of training programmes through Research that responds to the demands of the labour market to equip the youth with skills that enables them escape the trap of poverty and contribute to the country’s economic growth and national development.

The  government  in  its  efforts  to  tackle  the  increasing  unemployment   rate  and  security challenges  facing  the  nation  initiated  Nehemiah  Youth  Empowerment  Initiative  report  (NYEI,

2013), put up an Agriculture Empowerment  Scheme, which is aimed at empowering  and engaging youth in the country to stay away from crime.  The scheme calls for development of programme  in different  agricultural contexts for use by teachers in the skill acquisition centres for training of the youth.

The researcher  visited the skill acquisition  centers  in Abia,  Owerre  and Enugu  states and discovered that cocoyam production  is not available in each of these centres while teachers in the centres are willing to teach the competencies to youth but could not lay their hand on any developed programme in the crop.  The researcher also interacted with some of the youth in the study area and discovered that many of them are interested in being trained in cocoyam production to enhance their job  opportunities.  It was based on this background  that it became necessary to develop a training programmed in cocoyam production for enhancing job opportunities of youth in South-east.. Statement of the Problem

Cocoyam is a tuber crop that is highly valued by the people of South-East Nigeria.  This is because the crop is used in the area of the study for preparing food of different kinds. The quantity of cocoyam produced in Nigeria,  contributed 40 percent of world’s cocoyam.  The major production of cocoyam  is in Nigeria.  The farmers  in the study area dwell mostly  in yam,  cassava, potato  and vegetable production and pay less attention to lucrative farming enterprise like cocoyam,  which has

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the potential of performing well in marginal soils and generating much income with minimum input. Also  in the  study  area,  there  are  local markets  where  agricultural  products  like vegetables  and cocoyam comels are sold at affordable prizes.  Due to the abundance of these products, many traders from different  areas of Nigeria and other countries visit the markets with the aim of purchasing the products at reduced prices. The demand for cocoyam locally and internationally is, therefore, higher than the supply as many households prefer it to other root and tuber crops due to the variety of its uses like food,  thickening  soup, production  of chips,  and flour among others.  Most  farmers that produce  the  crop  are  old  while  young  ones  do  not  possess  the  required  competencies  for  its production  thereby  leading  to  the  scarcity  of the  crop.  The  youth  might  be  interested  in  the production of cocoyam especially as the demand for the crop is high but they find it very difficult to produce the crop due to lack of experience or training in the production.

Most of these youths are graduates either from secondary schools,  colleges of education or universities who find it very difficult to stay in the villages with no meaningful job opportunities. Most of them therefore migrate from the villages to cities in search of non-existing white collar jobs. The rate at which youth migrate from the rural area to the cities is alarming. In the absence ofjobs in the cities,  some of these youth take to commercial motorcycle riding and other meaner peasant jobs. The ban of motorcycle riding in such cities has led to mass unemployment  while those that had a little money went  into riding  of tricycle  generally  called keke-na-pepe.  Some of the youth who cannot  get tricycles  due to poverty  out of desperation  tum  to armed robbery, political  touts  and kidnapping  and other  social vices (Okwara,  2013).  The government  at different  levels  has been trying their best in solving the problem of unemployment  in the area by establishing skill acquisition centres  in  each  local  government  area  in  the  South  Eastern  Nigeria.  At  least  there  is  a  skill acquisition centre in each state ofthe South Eastern Nigeria (Abia, Anambra, Ebony, Enugu and Imo

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States). These centres are doing their best but the problem is that some required training programmes are not available in the centres.  The interaction of the researcher with some of the teachers in the skill acquisition centres in the area revealed that they are interested in training interested individuals in  certain  production  occupations  like cocoyam  production  but  need  to  lay  hand  on developed training  package.  It therefore  becomes  necessary  to  develop  a training  programme  in  cocoyam production  to enable these teachers  in the skill acquisition centres and any other trainer to impart these required competency to enhance the job opportunities of youth in cocoyam enterprises;  hence the study.

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to develop a training programme in cocoyam production for enhancing job  opportunities  of youth in South-East Nigeria.  Specifically, the study sought to identify

1.    determined  the  objectives  of each  of the  cocoyam  enterprises  (growing,  processing  and marketing) for enhancing the job opportunities of youth in South East Nigeria.

2.   identified the content of the training programme in cocoyam growing for enhancing the job opportunities of youth in South East Nigeria.

3.   identified content of the training programme  in cocoyam processing  for enhancing the job opportunities of youth in South East Nigeria.

4.   identified  content of the training programme  in marketing of cocoyam products  (cormels, chips and flour) for enhancing the job opportunities of youth in South East Nigeria.

5     ascertained the training procedure to adopt for enhancing the job opportunities of youths in

South East Nigeria.

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6    determined the procedure  for packaging each of the cocoyam enterprises into a programme for enhancing the job opportunities of y youth in South East Nigeria.

7   Revalidated the draft of the developed programme with experts to determine the worth..

Significance of the Study

Theoretically the study was anchored on skill acquisition theory propounded by. Hubert and Stewart in Sedaei (2003) which states that skill development  entails knowing  “what and how’  the five stages  in skill acquisition  which are novice,  advance beginner,  competence, proficiency  and expertise stages. The knowledge oftheory would be adopted in planning a gradual progression in the training of youths  in cocoyam production.  The theory serves as a background  into  designing the programme in a gradual progression, from known to unknown, realizing that the trainee might be a novice  in cocoyam production  and gradually  be exposed  to knowledge,  skills and  attitudes  that would  eventually  make  him/her  competent.  Therefore,  the  information  could  help  in  adopting gradual process in training learners in skill oriented program by logically arranging the tasks with inherent skills and taking the learners through each stage until the tasks are learned and practiced.

Furthermore, the theory also provided information on the need to train learners in the same environment  in which they would  work making use of relevant  materials  and trainers.  Thus the theory helped in identifying relevant materials that could be utilized to make training relevant based on the tenets of the theory.  The findings of the study, therefore strengthened the application of skill element   and  training  theories   for  adoption  while  training  youth  in  cocoyam  production   in Southeastern Nigeria.

Practically,  the study provided information beneficial to teachers of skill acquisition centres, youth, extension agents, government and researchers. The study provided information to the teachers of skill acquisition centres on the required package  for training individuals  in cocoyam production

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(growing, processing and marketing).  The teachers could utilize the information to provide effective training to youth and other interested individuals in cocoyam production.

The  study  further  provided  information that  could be used  in  equipping  the  youth  with knowledge,  skills and attitude needed in cocoyam production through the skill acquisition centres. The  youth that  avail themselves  the  opportunity  could then  have enhanced job  opportunities  in commercial cocoyam production. This could go a long way in sustaining them financially in addition to reducing their engagement in societal unacceptable businesses.

The study provided information to extension agents on the objectives,  content and methods for training individuals in cocoyam production. The extension agents could utilize the information in solving the problems of farmers that are interested in cocoyam production business in the study area.

The  study  further provided  information to  the  government  of South-east  Nigeria  on the objectives,  content,  materials and methods required in cocoyam production as a training programme for training individuals in cocoyam production enterprises. The government could direct the youth in the study area to go to skill acquisition centre to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes. The training programme  could also be utilized by the government to organize workshops  for teachers, farmers and others that are interested in cocoyam production to equip them with cocoyam production competencies.

The  study  also provided  information to  future researchers  on how to  develop  a training programme.  The information could be utilized by the researchers as reference material and so serve as a base for further research on programme development.

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Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study;

1.        What  are  the  objectives  of the  training  programme  on  each  of the  cocoyam  enterprises (growing,  processing  and marketing)  for enhancing job opportunities  of youth in South East Nigeria?

2.      What  are the  contents  of the  training  programme  m cocoyam  growmg  for enhancing  job opportunities of training youth in South East Nigeria?

3.       What are the contents of the training programme  in cocoyam processing  for enhancing job opportunities of youths in South East Nigeria?

4.      What  are the contents  of training programme  in  marketing of cocoyam products  (cormels, chips and flour) for enhancing job opportunities of youths in South East Nigeria?

5.       What  is  the  training  procedure  to  be  adopted  in  training  youths  in  any  of the  cocoyam enterprise in South East Nigeria?

6.       What is the procedure  for packaging  each of the cocoyam enterprises  into a programme  for training youth in South East Nigeria?

Hypothesis

The following null hypotheses formulated were tested at the probability level of 0.05.

1.      There is no significant difference  in the mean ratings of lecturers,  extension agents and farmers on the objectives of cocoyam production training programme.

2.     There is no significant difference  in the mean ratings of lecturers,  extension agents and farmers on the contents of cocoyam growing training programme.

3.     There is no significant difference  in the mean ratings of lecturers,  extension agents and farmers on the contents of cocoyam processing training programme

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4.     There is no significant difference  in the mean ratings of lecturers,  extension agents and farmers on the contents of cocoyam marketing training programme

5.     There is no significant difference  in the mean ratings of extension agents and lecturers on the training procedure to adopt in training youth in cocoyam production.

Scope of the Study

The study was delimited to the development of a training programme in cocoyam production for enhancing job opportunities of youths in South-east Nigeria.  Specifically,  the study covered the determination  of the objectives,  identification of content with appropriate  materials in each of the three enterprises in cocoyam in addition to the training procedure and packaging procedure.

The geographical scope of the study is South East- Nigeria which has five states, namely Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States. The study made use of was further delimited in the use of structured questionnaire to collect data from university lecturers, extension agents and farmers in the South east Nigeria.

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