Abstract
This study examined the impact of low level of students’ enrollment into Agricultural Education Programme in Colleges of Education in South Eastern Nigerian. The study was guided by four specific objectives to determine the trend of students’ enrollment in Agricultural Education from the 2020/2021 to 2024/2025 academic sessions, to identify the factors responsible for low enrollment, to ascertain the effects or impact of low enrollment into Agricultural Education Programme and to examine the strategies for increasing Students’ enrollment in Agricultural Education in Colleges of Education in the region. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 60 lecturers, 150 Students’ and 30 administrators, totalling 240 respondents drawn from five Colleges of Education in South Eastern Nigerian. A sample size of 120 respondents, consisting of 30 lecturers, 75 Students’, and 15 administrators was selected using proportionate stratified random sampling techniques. A structured questionnaire titled “Impact of Low Students’ Enrollment in Agricultural Education Questionnaire (ILSEAEQ)” was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in Agricultural Education and Measurement and Evaluation, while its reliability was established using the cronbach Alpha method, which yielded a coefficients of 0.86, indicating high reliability. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed that the trend of Students’’ enrollment in Agricultural Educaiton Programme across the five academic sessions (2020/2021 – 2024/2025) has been consistantly low ranging from 12 to fewer than 4 Students’ per session in the selected Colleges of Education in the region. It was also found that factors such as poor funding, inadequate faciliites, socictal perception of Agriculture as poor man’s job, limited career prospects and lack of awareness contribte significantly to the low Students’ enrollment. The study further showed that the impact of low Students’ enrollment includes shortage of qualified Agricultural teachers, underutilizations of facilities, threat to prgramme sustainability, low productivity in the Agricultural sector, and poor contribution to national food security. Moreover, effective strategies for increasing students’ enrollment identified include curriculum review, government incentives and scholarship, improved infrastructure, effective career guidance, public awareness campaigns and institutional collaboration with Agricultural industries.