Rural youth interest in economic activities along the agricultural value chain: empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and implications

Abstract

Identifying which agricultural activities rural youth would be interested to participate in and understanding which factors are enabling and constraining their participation is essential in attempting to alleviate rural youth unemployment and ameliorate the poor succession plan in smallholder agriculture. Employing a recent household survey dataset, descriptive statistics, and multinomial logit regression, this study sought to examine this issue. A structured questionnaire was designed and administered to 152 rural youth from Amajuba and Umzinyathi districts in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The study showed that rural youth are interested in engaging in all activities along the agricultural value chain. The factors enhancing their interest include access to resources and services (agricultural training, land, information, and communication technologies), age, and having a household member engaged in agriculture. However, access to other resources and services (formal education, social media, finance, psychological capital, and wealth), and dependency ratio were found to negatively affect their interest. These findings suggest that policymakers should formulate strategies that are sensitive to the resource endowment and access to services of the rural youth when aiming at engaging them in agricultural activities.

Youth Engagement in Agribusiness: Perception, Constraints, and Skill Training Interventions in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…The availability of finance is a major driver stimulating youth to engage In addition, two scholarly publications evaluated students' inclination to pursue a profession in agriculture [48,52]. Four studies examined the level of interest among young people in engaging in the agricultural value chain [47,49,55,58]. Two studies [47,58] evaluated the inclination of young people toward engaging in the whole agricultural value chain.…”

“…Four studies examined the level of interest among young people in engaging in the agricultural value chain [47,49,55,58]. Two studies [47,58] evaluated the inclination of young people toward engaging in the whole agricultural value chain. Eight studies [13,16,25,26,28,32,59,60] explored young individuals' perceptions of agriculture.…”

“…Bello et al [69] found that skills development, engagement in non-agricultural pursuits, affiliation with youth organizations, availability of financial services, and access to additional resources significantly influenced the level of involvement of young people in the Youth in Agriculture Program. According to Baloyi et al [47], access to agricultural training information and communication technology significantly impacted youth engagement in agribusiness.…”

“…In contrast, those from lower-income backgrounds, with less schooling, no experience in business, and living in urban areas are more likely to launch nonagricultural enterprises. [47] South Africa Quantitative…”

“…Research topics in themes.4.2.1. Attitude and Perception Youth in AgribusinessAmong the 21 papers examined, 11 articles[7,19,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] investigated young individuals' intentions and career choices in agribusiness. Of the thirteen publications analyzed, five papers[7,[50][51][52]56,57] focused on young people's desire to engage in agricultural activities.…”