Exploring the literacy-behaviour among agricultural science university students

Abstract

Healthy eating behaviour among young adults is increasingly shaped by food literacy and practical food-related competencies; however, empirical evidence from developing-country university contexts remains limited. This study examined the effect of food skills and cooking skills on nutrition intelligence among undergraduate agriculture students in Ghana. The study was conducted among undergraduate agricultural science students at the University of Education, Winneba and the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 521 respondents from two public universities. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and multiple linear regression were used to analyse the data. The results showed that students with higher food and cooking skills demonstrated significantly stronger nutrition intelligence scores, with food literacy explaining 55% of the variance. Notably, institutional differences emerged, with students in one university exhibiting higher mean scores in culinary competencies and nutrition intelligence. The findings underscore the importance of integrating applied nutrition and culinary literacy modules into tertiary agricultural programmes as a strategy for improving health-related decision making among young adults. This study contributes to the health education literature by highlighting the behaviour pathway linking food skills to nutrition literacy outcomes and calls for curriculum reform and student-focused nutrition intervention in higher education.