Assessing the factors that influence youth involvement in agriculture

Abstract

This study was aimed at assessing the factors that influence youth involvement in agriculture in Uganda. The research aimed at the socio-economic and demographic factors affecting the involvement of youths in agriculture in Uganda.The sampling frame was all youths in Uganda. A sample of 196 youths was used and this calculated using Cochran formula. A secondary data on agriculture in Uganda from UBOS was obtained to aide in this research and its analysis was done using STATA version 15.0. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Square method and binary logistics method were used to examine the factors that influence youth involvement in agriculture in Uganda.From the findings, majority (59.7%) of the youths that were engaged in agriculture were male, with most (54.6%) having a maximum of primary level of education, and 89.3% having a small farmland size of only 0 to 4 hectares. Majority (35.7%) of the youths had a fairly adequate income levels, and most of them (69.9%) had access to markets for their agricultural products. Market access, education level, and income status had a statistically significant impact on youth involvement in agriculture. The study revealed that for the youths, it was 1.766 times more likely to involve in agriculture with primary education, 1.731 times more to involve in agriculture with secondary education, and 1.767 times more likely to involve in agriculture if you have above secondary education than those never been to school. It was 0.574 times less likely to involve in agriculture with no access to market than those that had access to market. It was 0.961 times less likely to involve in agriculture with fairly adequate income, 0.951 times less likely to involve in agriculture with moderate income, 0.897 less likely to involve in agriculture with fairly inadequate income, and 0.867 times less likely to involve in agriculture with inadequate income than one with adequate income. The study recommended that, practical trainings in schools for agricultural lessons instead of theoretical trainings should be introduced, government should introduce policies that directly promote youth involvement in agriculture such as allowing easy access to agricultural loans for these youths, and more markets and feeder roads leading to markets should be opened.The study concluded that, youth involvement in agriculture was associated with the following; market access, education level, and income status.