TVET PROGRAMS AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE: A TOOL FOR ENHANCING THE PRODUCTIVITY OF DISABLED RURAL FARMERS IN NIGERIA
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Abstract
Rural farmers in Nigeria over the years have made significant contributions to the rural economy. It is however pertinent to note that some of them are incapacitated to engage in agricultural activities as a result of disability, and this has impacted negatively on their livelihood. The aim of this paper is to unveil the numerous prospects and opportunities of TVET programs in enhancing the training and acquisition of practical skills, in the design and fabrication of assistive technologies for rural disabled farmers. More than thirty articles were downloaded from peer- reviewed journals, web search engines, and databases, using keywords related to the research topic. Findings show that physical, visual, auditory and locomotor disabilities are common among rural farmers and such disabilities are mostly caused by motor vehicle accidents, ill-health, insecurity etc. Even though these conditions can be alleviated through the use of assistive technologies, there are however barriers in capacity gaps of assistive technology workforce, lack of biomedical and rehabilitation engineers involved in the design, development, and production of assistive technologies among others. TVET formal, non-formal and informal programs provide opportunities for the training of professional biomedical and rehabilitation engineers, acquisition of practical skills to design and fabricate assistive technologies in form of tools, devices and modifications. This paper therefore, recommends that key actors of TVET programs at all levels should create the enabling environment for the design and production of assistive technologies for rural disabled farmers.
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