Youth Involvement In Small Scale Agricultural Enterprises In Mbaise Local Govt. Area of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Youth have been noted as being a formable force to agricultural and rural development in Nigeria. This study investigates youths involvement in small scale agricultural enterprises in Imo State, Nigeria. A total of 105 respondents were randomly chosen and interviewed for the study. About 58% of the respondents were between 18 and 25 years old, 65.7% were single and 50.5% were female. Also, about 86% of the respondents were educated up to tertiary education level, and 66.7% were having between 1 and 4 years experience in small scale agricultural enterprises. It was found that youths were sparingly involved in small scale agricultural enterprises in the study area. Problems identified to affect their involvement include labour, loan facilities, harsh economic conditions, stiff competition, and weather conditions. Significant relationship was found between gender, education, scale agricultural enterprises.

Key words: youths involvement, small scale agricultural enterprise

Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences Vol.2(2) 2004: 28-34