Integrating Indigenous Knowledge with Formal Agricultural Education in Ijaw Communities of Bayelsa State

Panebi Ugo

doi:10.56201/ijee.v12.no.3.2026.pg226.237

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Integrating Indigenous Knowledge with Formal Agricultural Education in Ijaw Communities of Bayelsa State

Panebi Ugo

Abstract

This study investigated integrating indigenous knowledge with formal Agricultural Education in Ijaw communities of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The inquiry addressed the persistent disconnect between standardized classroom farming instruction and the actual estuarine, riverine, and flood- recession livelihoods that sustain local communities. A multi-method qualitative research design was adopted, combining curriculum document analysis, field ethnography, and focus group discussions. Through a simple random sampling technique, a sample size of 100 respondents was selected. Data were collected using validated qualitative coding matrices, interview schedules, and focus group guides, and analyzed using thematic and qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed a total structural exclusion of regional aquatic and flood-recession livelihoods from the formal curriculum, which biases toward land-locked terrestrial agronomy. This gap causes severe pedagogical dissonance among instructors and forces the devaluation of viable local practices. Consequently, this instructional mismatch leads to learner alienation, declining student interest, and accelerates the intergenerational loss of critical ecological survival knowledge among Ijaw youths. It was concluded that the current curriculum suffers from a crisis of contextual relevance. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education introduce localized deltaic modules and that schools restructure continuous assessments to incorporate direct, elder-led field partnerships.

Keywords

Integratingindigenous knowledgeformal Agricultural EducationIjaw communities

References

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Integrating Indigenous Knowledge with Formal Agricultural Education in Ijaw Communities of Bayelsa State

Abstract

Keywords

References

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