Assessment of Youth Involvement in Agricultural Production: The Case of Sabon-Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria

Subject Areas : Agricultural Extension

Issa  F. O. ¹ (National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria)
Obioma  O. D. ² (Department of Agricultural Extension, Samaru College of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria)
Sallau  R. ³ (Department of Agricultural Extension, Samaru College of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria)

Received: 2015-12-24 Accepted : 2015-12-24 Published : 2014-09-01

Keywords: agricultural production, Youth involvement, Production constraints,

Abstract :

This study assessed of youth involvement in agricultural production in Sabon Gari Local Government Area. The data used for this study were collected using interview schedule administered to 112 respondents who were selected through multi-stage sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages and means were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that majority (95.5%) of the respondents were males; between 26–30 years of age (33.9%), had formal education (46.4%), married (66.0%); had household size of 1–5 (54.4%); had farm size of 1–2 ha for crops (57.2%), and had a hard size of 1-6 cattle (85.7%). Also, the study also revealed that 69.6% of the respondents were involved in crop production with about (1-5 tonnes) output of major grains. Furthermore, constraints limiting youth involvement in agricultural production were identified as inadequate capital (M=3.8); inadequate modern implements (M=3.7); difficulty in accessing loan (M=3.7); and inadequate extension services (M=3.6). The study recorded effective involvement of youth in agricultural production (79.4%). The study recommends that the youth should form themselves into functional cooperatives so that they can mobilize funds for their farming activities. Furthermore, more extension workers should be employed to enhance extension services delivery especially in fisheries in the study area.

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