Assessment of Farm Year Programme of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike

In Nigeria, it is mandatory and indeed a policy of the National Universities Commission (NUC) that, agricultural undergraduates in the fourth year of the five-year degree be exposed to farm practical year. This study was undertaken to assess the farm year programme of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU). Data were collected from the students of the two universities, using structured questionnaire. A total of 152 sampled students were selected through stratified sampling procedure from core agricultural departments. Data were analyzed using percentage and mean and t-test statistics. The results show that the students of both universities were satisfied in major areas of their involvement. The major constraints to FYP as indicated by the students were lack of proper orientation of students before the commencement of the FYP, lack of proper monitoring and evaluation by the field staff and lecturers, poor programme planning that resulted in programme clashes and inadequate funding of FYP. The students of both universities were of the view that there should be a monitoring and evaluation unit in their faculties to assess the progress of the programme. The findings further revealed that there were significant differences between the perception of UNN and MOUAU students on constraints to FYP (t=10.370) and ways of improving the FYP (t=7.62). It is recommended that there is the need to put in place adequate resources for field-based practical in order to achieve the desire objective of FYP.