FACTORS INFLUENCING YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN RURAL FARMING IN OVIA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT 

The youths are essential to the success of the agricultural sector as they represent a significant proportion of the workforce. Agriculture in the other hand is the foundation of human civilization and is the mainstay of the local economy, providing employment for a large percentage of the population. However, in recent years, there has been a decline in the number of young people who are actively engaged in agriculture, leading to concerns about the future of the sector. Pull factors are positive and desirable factors that motivate individuals to engage in agricultural activities and push factors are negative and undesirable factors that discourage or force individuals to leave their land and seek better opportunities elsewhere. Creating an enabling environment that supports youth participation in agriculture and addressing the pull and push factors that affect them, may possibly reverse the trend of declining youth engagement in agriculture. Hence, this study was conducted to fill this gap of independently assessing the pull and push factors influencing youth participation in farming. Thus, this study was conducted to generally assess the pull and push factors influencing youth participation in farming in Ovia North East Local Government Area, Edo state, Nigeria. Specifically, it was done to describe the socio-economic characteristics of youths in Edo state, identify the pull factors influencing youth participation in farming, assess the push factors influencing youth participation in farming and determine the strategies that can be developed to encourage youth participation in farming.