Meaning of Agricultural Education
The term agricultural education is a combination of two words, agriculture and education. So a critical understanding of these two concept will give us a vivid understanding of the Meaning of agricultural education.
The term agriculture refers to the science and art of the cultivation of crops and the rearing of farm animals, as well as the processing and marketing of these products for human and industrial needs. While education refers to sun to of experience, skills, and values which an individual acquires so to be an active and effective participant in society (Fafunwa, 1974).
Having explain the cocept of agriculture and education, let us proceed to the explain the meaning of agricultural education as the acquisition of experiences, skills, and value that enable an individual to teach the art of cultivating of crops and rearing of farm animals.
Agricultural Education is a specialized form of vocational education saddle with the responsibility of inculcating in the learners the right knowledge, skills, and attitudes in all aspects of agricultural production, as well as effective techniques for teaching agriculture at various levels of educational.
According to Olaitan (2017), Agricultural Education is a progamme of study designed to provide leaners with the pedagogical and techniques skills to enable the individual to teach relevant aspect of agriculture to learners in a specific level of education, such as primary, secondary, or tertiary education.
In the view of the National Association of Agricultural Educators (2025) Agricultural education teaches students about agriculture, food, and natural resources as well as teaches students a wide varieties of skills require for effective agricultural productions.
National University Commission (NUC, 2023) opined that Agricultural Education is a teacher education programme for producing teachers of Agricultural science for secondary schools and colleges.
The Objective Agricultural Education
Some objectives of agricultural education as enumerated by National University Commission under the CCMAS 2023 pp 88 are discuss below:
- train students admitted into the programme with selable skills in all aspect of agricultural production such as crops, livestock, agribusiness, soil technology and agro-technology
- Inculcate in the students both agricultural and teaching competencies that will in turn impact the knowledge and skills of students and adult farmers.
- Inculcates in the youth public relation skills essential for helping nomadic and migrant farmers contribute meaningfully to nation economy and leave peacefully without conflict
- Inculcate in the teacher proficiency skills in agricultural production and education that could be used by other institutions in training and retraining of out of school youth, unemployed in agricultural production so as to become self- reliance and diversify the nation’s economy through agriculture.
- Produce professional in agriculture education
- Produce researchers in agricultural education and agro business experts that will improve allied organization and industries for national development.
Challenges Confronting Agriculture Education
In recent years, the agricultural education programme has faced numerous challenges that have serious implications on the food production system as millions of people depend on agriculture for their food. Some of the problems confronting the system include.
- Public Perception of Agriculture Education: Generally, Agricultural Education has been considered as a career part for teachers and for those with less academic abilities. This is due to the negative mind many people have toward teaching and farming. These occupations are often considered a career part for the age and less privileged individuals in society. As a result, the youths have low interest pursuing agricultural education as a career paths. Parents and peers often encourage their friends and wards to take courses in other area of specialization apart from agricultural education. This negative mindset have affect the growth and expansion of agricultural education prograrme.
- Low Student Enrollment in the Progrmme: Apart from the public perception affecting Agricultural Education, another problem affecting the programme is the low student’s enrolment into the programme. Recently, the total number of students enrolling in the agricultural education programme has been alarming. In some universities, students offering agricultural education may not exceed 200 students for the four or five levels, respectively. Some universities admits about 20 to 50 students per level each year while only few universities may exceed 70 -100 students per level. This numbers are usually fluctuating according to universities. To boost enrollment in Agricultural Education, some head of departments and course advisers opt for students rejected from other department due to low performance as a means of increasing their population. More so, the conversion of most colleges of education into degree-awarding institutions has resulted in the sharing of the limited poor of students in most universities.
- Government Policy on Agriculture Education: government policy on agriculture in schools have serious implications on the image of the subjects. A country where government prioritizes agriculture as a core subjects in lower education will definitely affects the image of the subjects. For example, in Nigeria, from the 1990s to 2009, when agriculture was a core subject from the lower primary to secondary school. The enrollment into the programme has been quite high. But since the introduction of the 9:3:4 system of education where agriculture is merged with home economics as a prevocational subjects in the low basic classes, and as one of the optional vocational subjects in secondary school, this have affected the public enrolment of students into the teaching career.
- Poor Implementation of the Agriculture Education Curriculum: inadequate skilled personnel, facilities, and equipment for the successful implementation of the progrmme have serious implications on the system. Agricultural education is a vocational subjects that require the three Hs.. The hand, the head, and the heart. Therefore, the required equipment and manpower for the effective implementation of the curriculum must be available to ensure effective connection between academics and industry. This will enable students acquire relevant knowledge and skills, which will boost their preparedness for the demands of contemporary agriculture advancements and industry trends. Moreso, the curriculum need to be overhauled or broken down to reflect the current areas of specializations in agriculture, such as fishery education, soil education, animal science education, agricultural industrial education, and more. This will allow students to choose areas of specialization to be able to fit into the contemporary demand of agricultural education.
- Inadequate Infrastructure and Resources: resources here include natural resources such as land and water, asset such as classroom and laboratory, and financial resources. These resources are grossly inadequate or not available in some cases. In many developing countries, large number of educational institutions that offers agricultural programmes have limited resource and infrastructure. This situations hampers the effective teaching and learning as well as the acquisition of contemporary skills and competency required to scale in the ever changing world of work. Where most of this equipment and technology are available, they are either outdated or faulty due to inadequate man power to operate and maintain them. Limited allocation from the government to agricultural education administrators, such as the head of department and deans of faculties of agricultural education are often insufficient for the operation of the agricultural education progrmme. These inadequacies of Infrastructure and resources in agricultural education leaves instructors to struggle to provide practical instruction in the absence of sufficient resources.
- Poor Image of Agricultural Education Graduate: since most of the students offering agricultural education do so because of their poor admission requirements, they tend to have low passion for the subjects, couple with limited resource and skilled power further weaken their interest and competences. Poor practical training opportunities for agricultural education graduates limit their ability to compete with their counterparts in other areas of agriculture, such as animal science, soil science, agronomy, and more. Even when agricultural education graduates are well place compared to those with single major courses, they often feel inferior compare to their counterpart in other discipline. More so, inadequate exposure to hands-on practical training opportunities or poor application of theoretical principles limits the ability of the agricultural education graduate to excel in professionally.