ENTERPRENEURIAL SKILLS NEEDED BY RETIREES FOR SUCCESS IN WALNUT (JUGLARIS NIGRA. L) PRODUCTION IN ONDO STATE

The study focused on the determination of entrepreneurial skills needed by retirees for success in walnut (Juglaris Nigra. L) Production in Ondo State. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study was carried out in Ondo state. Population of the study was 56 made of 40 (forty) registered walnut farmers and 16 (sixteen) agricultural extension agents from eight agricultural zones in the state. The entire population made up the sample due to the manageable size. A-48 entrepreneurial skill questionnaire items was developed and used to collect data. The questionnaire had a 4-point response scale of Highly needed, Averagely needed, Slightly needed and Not needed. The questionnaire was validated by three experts from the Department of Vocational Teacher Education, (Agricultural Education Unit) university of Nigeria, Nsukka. The reliability of the questionnaire was established using Crobanch Alpha reliability method to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire items. This yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.82. The 56 copies of the questionnaire were administered on walnut farmers and agricultural extension agents and all were retrieved. Mean was used to answer the research questions while t-est statistics was used to test the hypotheses. Results from the study revealed that the retirees needed all the 48 skills items identified by the study. It was therefore recommended that the 48 entrepreneurial skills identified by this study be used in training the retirees for success in walnut production enterprise in Ondo state