ABSTRACT
This study investigated awareness, availability and level of consumption of cocoyam dishes among undergraduates in Edo and Ondo states. Eight (8) research questions were raised and answered in the study. Four null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance.
The study adopted correlational survey design. The population for the study comprised of 31,635 undergraduates from University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State and 12,000 undergraduates from Adeyemi Federal University of Education (AFUED), Ondo State during the 2021/2022 academic session. A sample size of 400 undergraduates were selected using Taro Yamane formula. Multistage sampling approach was used to select the participant for the study. Proportionate stratified sampling was used to select respondents into ratio of 3:1 from UNIBEN and AFUED based on the population of undergraduates in the two institutions. Only 75% (300) of the respondents was selected from UNIBEN and 25% (100) AFUED. A structured questionnaire named “Assessment of Cocoyam Dishes among Undergraduates Questionnaire” (ACDUSQ) was used to collect data for the study. The instrument was validated by the three experts in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin. A reliability coefficient value of 0.938 was obtained, indicating that the instrument is very highly reliable. 400 copies of the questionnaire were administered to the respondents with the help of two briefed research assistants. The data obtained was analyzed with mean, standard deviation, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and independent samples t-test statistics.
The major findings of the study are that the level of awareness of cocoyam dishes among undergraduates in Edo and Ondo States is low ( = 2.47). The extent to which increase in awareness of cocoyam dishes corresponds with the increase in the preference of such dishes among undergraduates is significantly higher among students in Ondo State ( = 0.25) than students in Edo State ( = 0.06). The study concludes that the though the level to which undergraduate students in Edo and Ondo States are aware of the significance of cocoyam dishes is low, the dishes are available around them, and they prefer to eat the dishes if they have more awareness. It was recommended among others that there should be massive awareness campaigns about cocoyam dishes on university campuses, such as organizing food fairs, workshops, or cooking demonstrations featuring cocoyam dishes.
