Perception of Youth in Selected Tertiary Institutions on Agricultural Education as a Means of Ensuring Food Security in Ogun State, Nigeria

Agriculture is central to improving food and nutrition security of any nation while this could be achieved through a better agricultural education and enlightenment of the youth. Thus, this study was carried out to assess perception of youth in Tertiary Institutions on Agricultural Education as a means of ensuring food security in Ogun State, Nigeria. Two hundred and fifty respondents were randomly selected as sample size for this study. Data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics and chi-square. Results of the study showed that majority of the respondents were males (51.20%) with a mean age of 24.70 years and had a keen interest in acquiring knowledge and skills in Agriculture (71.20%). Furthermore, the results revealed that Agricultural Extension (100%), Crop Production and Protection (90.40%), Livestock Production (88.00%), Fishery and Aquaculture (87.20%), and Agricultural Economics (80.80%) were major scopes of Agricultural Education through which knowledge and skills were imparted on the Agricultural Students. However, effective Agricultural Education was hindered by inadequate resource personnel (71.20%), erratic electricity supply (66.40%), and poor financing of Agricultural Education (64.80%). Results of the study further indicated that a significant association existed between the scopes of agricultural education and perception of the respondents on agricultural education as a means of ensuring food security in the study area (χ2 = 8.98, df = 1). This study concluded that Agricultural Education contributed to skill acquisition in food production and nutritional security. Effective teaching and learning process should be supported by recruiting more resourceful personnel and providing essential Agricultural instructional materials to the institutions.