Weakness and Remedies

 

Majority of the candidates were unable to:

- give the general problems of land tenure system in agricultural development in West Africa;
- list farm machinery and farm implements;
- write the botanical names of weeds and oil palm;
- state the ways of minimizing land and pond pollution;
- list the physical and economic factors affecting land availability for agriculture;
- define apiculture;
- explain flushing, castration and culling as well as their advantages in animal production;
- give the uses of measuring tape and prismatic compass;
- list agricultural extension agencies in West Africa;
- state ways through which soils are enriched with nitrogen;
- spell correctly.

Based on the observed weaknesses the Chief Examiners recommended as follows:

- Adequate teaching and coverage of the syllabuses. Aspects of the syllabus such as farm mechanization/agricultural engineering, crop and animal production, agricultural economics amongst others should be covered by teachers with particular emphasis on the new areas of the syllabus;
- Teachers should expose students to agricultural tools, machines and equipment as well as their use;
- Teachers should teach the students with appropriate diagrams where necessary;
- Teachers should lay emphasis on correct spellings of terms;
- Teachers should emphasize the acquisition of practical skills in the subject through school farms, field visits, excursion; and
- Only graduates of Agricultural Science/Agriculture should be allowed to teach the subject in Senior Secondary Schools in West Africa.