ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS IMPROVMENT NEEDS OF WOMEN IN TOMATOES PRODUCTION FOR PROFITABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN BAYELSA STATE

Abstract

This paper identified entrepreneurial skills improvement needs of women in tomatoes production for Profitability in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Three research questions were raised and answered for the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study which was carried out in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The target population of the study was 325 comprising of 250 women and 65 Agricultural Extension officials in Bayelsa State, which were all used for the study as sample. A 25 item entrepreneurial skills improvement needs questionnaire on tomatoes was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was face validated by three experts. Two hundred and forty- five copies of the questionnaire was retrieved and analyzed using weighted X (mean) and improvement need index (INI). Cronbach- Alpha reliability coefficient was used to determine internal consistency of the instrument which yielded entrepreneurial reliability coefficient of 0.82.The findings from the study revealed that women in Bayelsa State need entrepreneurial skills in pre-planting, planting, harvesting and marketing operations in tomatoes production. It was recommended amongst others that women in Bayelsa State should be trained by skill acquisition centres in tomatoes production using the identified entrepreneurial skills. The identified skills should be developed into training modules by agricultural extension officials and administration of skill acquisition centres for training interested individuals especially the women.