UTILISATION OF ACCESS TO GLOBAL ONLINE RESEARH IN AGRICULTURE (AGORA) BY FINAL YEAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, NIGERIA

This study investigated the utilisation of Access to Global On-line Research in Agriculture (AGORA) by final year undergraduate students of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Ibadan. A total of 140 respondents were selected from the eight departments in the faculty using simple random sampling technique. Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire and the data were analysed using both descriptive (frequency, percentage, means) and inferential statistics (Chi-square and PPMC) at P=0.05. The results revealed that 52.1% of the respondents were female, 90% were single, 97.1% were computer literate and the mean age of the respondents was 24 years. About 67.1% had high level of awareness on AGORA. Constraints to the use of AGORA identified included irregular power supply (64.3%), limited access to AGORA password (52.8%), and lack of awareness (49.3%). Significant relationship existed between level of awareness and use of AGORA (r= 0.334; p = 0.05). There was no significant relationship between constraint and utilis ation of AGORA (χ 2 = 3.334; p > 0.05). Hence, there is a need for increased publicity in order to encourage attitudinal change and improve the utilis ation of AGORA by the students. Keywords : AGORA, online research, utilisation of AGORA.