The impact of socio-economic factors on Ekiti State’s youth participation in agriculture

Out of many other options to increase sustainable production of foods to feed its teeming population, Nigerian academics now focus on the possibility of motivating the youths into action in a labour intensive drive; finding reasons why Nigerian youths are not taking to farming. It is well known that a lot of young college and university graduates left the shores of Nigeria only to be engaged by strangers in cultivating plantations in foreign lands as a mean of livelihood. The shame of their discovery and the inability to raise adequate funds with which they would return home eventually keep them in long servitude abroad. Moreover, a lot of studies have ensued in regard of this, but none has been done or reported on Ekiti youths. This study fills the gap. A sample of 300 respondents from the population of youths was drawn using multistage sampling method. Five focal questions were raised in the study and two hypotheses were generated and tested using the binary probit regression analysis. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire; the research design could be described as a descriptive survey. Study unveiled that the identified socio-economic determinants youth participation in agriculture are gender, age, marital status, religion, household size and their personal pleasure derivable from agricultural activities. It was also discovered that other things youths also need in Ekiti to encourage them in taking on agriculture include finance, awareness, training, fertile land, loan facility, power supply, loan facility, power supply, improved seedlings, fertilizer/agrochemicals availability, and machinery among others