ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCY IMPROVEMENT NEEDS OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE IN PROCESSING AFRICAN YAM BEAN SEEDS FOR FOOD SECURITY IN NORTH CENTRAL STATES OF NIGERIA

The study was carried out to determine entrepreneurial competency improvement needs of women in agriculture in processing yam bean seeds (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) for food security in North- central States of Nigeria. To achieve this objective, four research questions were developed and answered. The study adopted survey research design. A 45 item structured questionnaire was developed from the literature reviewed for the study and utilized for collecting data. The population for the study was 205 women farmers who produce and or process local bean seeds. The structured questionnaire was face validated by 3 experts. Cronbach Alpha method was employed to determine the reliability of the questionnaire items and a coefficient of 0.91 was obtained. The questionnaire was administered on 205 respondents. One hundred and ninety eight copies of questionnaire were retrieved and analysed. Weighted mean and Improvement Needed Index were used to answer the research questions. A focus group discussion was involved to obtain further information on the level of need and how they can perform the competency items to improve the data obtained from the survey. The study found out that 45 items identified by the study were required in preparing yam bean seeds while the women were deficient in 42 of them. It was therefore recommended that the identified competencies be utilised to retrain the women to make them economically viable in the processing of yam bean seeds for food security in North- central states of Nigeria.