Determinants of rural youth’s participation in agricultural activities

Abstract

Though youth have desirable qualities that can promote agriculture, most of them have strong apathy toward it. This has resulted in mass unemployment and lack of sustainable livelihood among youth. With fewer youth into agriculture, the long term future of agriculture sector is in question. The study aimed at finding out on the role played by agriculture to rural youth socio economic needs, types of agricultural activities which are engaged by rural youth and the factors which influence rural youth participation in agriculture. Data for this study were collected from Kahe East Ward in Moshi district through questionnaires and interviews. Study found that majority of the respondents were attracted to invest more in their own farms rather than being employed as labour or involved in family farms. The findings of the study also revealed that rural youth in Kahe are provided with their socioeconomic needs through their participation in agriculture. These include food, education and health services. Furthermore the study found out that age, sex, marital status, education level, family background, availability of rural credit facilities, land, agricultural knowledge, lack of job alternatives and perceptions are important factors associated with rural youth’s participation in agricultural activities.