Determinants of Access to and Ownership of Farming Land Among Rural Youths in Central Region of Malawi

Malawi’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture of which 80 percent of those involved in agriculture live in rural areas. On top of that, the highest population of the country consist of the youth in the age category 15 to 39 years. However, the youth still remains the age category in the country with poor access to productive assets. The study analyzed factors affecting rural youth’s access and ownership of farming land and employed an Independent Double Hurdle approach. Results showed that among the socioeconomic and institutional factors hypothesized to affect access and ownership of land; age, gender, household size, education level, farm input coupon access and household income positively influenced access to and ownership of land at 1 percent level of statistical significance (P<0.01). The study recommends introducing programs that improves the education levels and incomes of rural youths in order to improve their access and ownership of farming land. The study again recommends empowering rural youthful women in order to improve their ownership of farming land. Keywords: Access, Land, Rural, Youth, Malaw DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-12-15 Publication date:June 30th 201