Influence of Students’ Participation in Young Farmers’ Club on Performance in Agriculture in Secondary Schools in Suba Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the most important sectors for economic growth in Kenya. Setting up of young farmers’ club (YFC) in secondary schools is one way of attracting young people in agriculture as well as developing their production skills. Inadequate participation in young farmers’ club may lead to poor performance in agriculture and negative attitude towards the subject by secondary school students.The aim of this study was to determine the influence of students’ participation in young farmers’ club on performance in agriculture subject in secondary schools in Suba Sub-County. A cross-sectional survey research design was employed in the study which targeted 628 Form Three agriculture students in public secondary schools in Suba Sub-County. Data was collected from an accessible population of 286 Form Three Young Farmers’ Club members in 37 public secondary schools in Suba Sub-County. Stratified random sampling was used to get the study sample of 126 respondents. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Experts from the field of Agricultural Education and Extension of Egerton University assessed the instrument to ensure validity. Reliability was estimated through a pilot testing of 30 agriculture students in five secondary schools in neighbouring Nyatike Sub-County. The reliability was estimated using Cronbach alpha co-efficient where a co-efficient of 0.817 was computed and taken as satisfactory. Data was arranged,coded and analyzed using SPSS version 25. The study findings revealed that students’ performance in agriculture subject is significantly enhanced by participation in Young Farmers’ Club. This study recommends that students’ participation in Young Farmers’ Club activities should be encouraged in all secondary schools as a way of augmenting the students’ performance in agriculture subject. This can be done by availing adequate time for YFC’s activities. In addition, students in YFCs should be accorded with the required facilities in order to make their participation worthwhile.

Key Words — Students’ Participation, Young Farmers’ Club, Performance in Agriculture, Secondary Schools, Kenya.