Awareness and willingness of youths to participate in agriculture among undergraduates in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Globally, youth participation in agriculture has been perceived as one of the vital keys for the revitalization of the economy of many countries. Several studies have focused on the different ways of encouraging youth participation in agriculture. However, little attention has been given to the awareness and the willingness of the youths to participate in agriculture. This study, therefore, examined, among other things the willingness of the youths to participate in agriculture especially among undergraduate. Functionalist theory was employed as the framework, while descriptive survey design was used. Structured questionnaire was administered on 200 students purposively selected from some private universities in Nigeria. The study revealed that majority (79.5%) of the respondents was aware of the need for youths to participate in agriculture. A majority (79.5%) of the undergraduates studied were not willing to participate in agriculture, (68.5%) of the respondents were also not willing to attend seminars to encourage youth participation in agriculture. Agriculture makes one dirty (50.5%) accounted for the major reason for the unwillingness of the undergraduates to participate in agriculture followed by laziness (25.0%). There is a need to reorient Nigerian undergraduates and the youths in general on the importance of their participation in agriculture.