Mechanisms for Enhancing Teachers’ Effectiveness in the Implementation of Agricultural Science Programme in Secondary Schools in Afikpo Education Zone of Ebonyi State

Poor performance of students in agricultural science at the internal and external examinations has been attributed to ineffectiveness of the agricultural science teachers at the secondary schools in Afikpo education zone of Ebonyi State, therefore, this research determined the mechanisms for enhancing the teachers’ effectiveness in the implementation of secondary school agricultural science programme. The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study was 117 and there was no sampling, rather the whole population was studied. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The instrument had 4 points modified likert scale. The instrument was validated by using Cronbach alpha which yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.96. Data were collected by the researcher administering the questionnaire to the respondents. Data analyzes involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. Based on the analysis of the data, it was revealed among others that provision of incentives, regular training and retraining of the teachers enhance the effectiveness of the teachers in the implementation of the secondary school agricultural science programme. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that the Ebonyi State Ministry of education in collaboration with the school principals should try to provide incentives to the teachers and organize conferences, seminars and workshops to update the teachers’ knowledge. Keywords:  Mechanism; teachers effectiveness; implementation; agricultural science programm

Mushroom Production for Food Security in Nigeria

This paper focused on mushroom production for food security in Nigeria. Mushroom cultivation has found a niche among small scale famers. Previously there were picked from wild forest, but now, many farmers are growing mushroom for their nutritional value as well as for medicinal purposes. The requirement for mushroom production which are spawn, substrate, and compost are identify and the categories of edible mushroom, the button mushroom (Agaricu Bisporus) and oyster mushroom (Pleurotus Sp.) were also identified. Constraints to production include lack of quality spawn, problem of pest and disease, complex process of obtaining loan and lack of proper skills in production. Recommendations were made around the aspects of training on mushroom cultivation, financial institutions should make loans flexible to farmers, government should encourage the use of laboratories to produce and distribute spawn and government should consider mushroom productions as an agricultural activities. It concluded that, mushroom farming may flourish like mushroom growth in the coming years; if the problems identified and attended urgently and remedial measures are undertaken at the earliest. Keywords: Mushroom: Production: Food: Security: Food security