Agricultural Engineering Profession; The Perspective of Employers of Labour in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

An appraisal was carried out on the level of awareness of the Agricultural Engineering profession by employers of labour in Ilorin, Nigeria, to evaluate who they (employers of labour) think an Agricultural Engineer is, how relevant they think he is to their organizations and how well they have been able to make use of his (Agricultural Engineer’s) expertise in their respective organizations. This was done using structured questionnaires and personal communication. The questionnaires were distributed to the target groups and persons (these include Research Institutes, Production and Manufacturing Industries, Government Ministries, Agencies and Parastatals). The results showed that 79.8% of the respondents were of the opinion that Agricultural Engineers can operate and maintain automobiles, earth moving equipment and all forms of farm tractors, while the remaining 20.2% opined that they (Agricultural Engineers) cannot perform such functions. An average of 77.5% posited that Agricultural Engineers cannot perform other functions as handling/management of water treatment plants, fabrication of industrial machines especially for processing of biological materials, designing and constructing  drainage and irrigation facilities, carrying out rural electrification and hydropower projects, designing and constructing  structural projects like rural buildings, roads, bridges/ culverts and storage facilities, imparting  knowledge in younger generation as professional teachers/lecturers, carrying out of survey and layout works, carrying out of computer maintenance and writing computer programmes while only 22.5% posited that they (Agricultural Engineers) can perform these “other functions”. 82.6% of the respondents are of the opinion that Agricultural Engineers cannot fit into their organizations. The findings necessitate the need for greater sensitization/enlightenment on the Agricultural Engineering profession.