Perceptions and Attitudes of Secondary School Agricultural Science teachers on Organic Agriculture in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

There is a growing awareness on sustainable agriculture in Nigeria. This work was aimed at determining the perceptions and attitudes on organic agriculture (OA) among secondary school agricultural science teachers in Emohua Local Government Area (EMOLGA), Rivers State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used to generate the data. Twelve (12) out of the sixteen (16) secondary schools in the Local Government Area were randomly chosen and five (5) agricultural science teachers in each of these schools were administered with questionnaires and all retrieved. The result revealed that most of the teachers are trained teachers in agriculture (88.3%), males, have been in the teaching profession for less than 10 years (66.7%), with farming experience before their education, aware of OA, 75.0% and 18.3% of them having moderate and high perception of OA respectively. Also, 70.0% of the teachers have a positive attitude towards OA and 96.7% of them willing to practice it. A greater percentage (96.7%) is willing to adopt OA and inform their teachers on the merits of OA. The majority of the respondents agreed that chemical fertilizers have negative effects on peoples health and the environment. Most of the respondents agreed on the need for adequate knowledge and in-service training on OA and the low content of sustainable agriculture in the curriculum. They advocated for better teaching facilities and review the agricultural science curriculum in the secondary schools with the inclusion of sustainable agriculture.