Abstract

The study assessed performance of graduates of the poultry training programme under the Rural Agricultural Development and Graduate Training Scheme of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Imo State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 90 NDE beneficiaries. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive statistics, Return on Investment (ROI) and multiple regression analysis. The result showed that farmers had mean age, household size, flock size and annual farm income of 43.4 years, 6 persons, 91 birds andN325, 500.00 respectively. The farmers had favourable perception (X =3.2) of the programme. Poultry production enterprise was a lucrative business with a Return on Investment (ROI) of 138.40%. The multiple regression analysis result revealed that age (2.93***), marital status (2.00**), household size (-2.97***), farming experience (1.88*), flock size (2.98***) and poultry output (1.10*) influenced beneficiaries? performance on the programme. Sustenance of the programme is advocated to encourage unemployed youth?s participation in the scheme.

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