Youth Participation in Agricultural Enterprises as Rural Job Creation Work and Its Determinants in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Even though agriculture has ample potential to absorb a large number of people, youths tend to stand away from the subsector. As a result, rural job creation works were started in southern Ethiopia by participating youth in different agricultural enterprises in the form of groups and cooperatives. However, as compared to sector potential, youths are not participating in agricultural job creation works in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was intended to assess factors affecting youth participation in agricultural enterprises in selected districts of Southern Ethiopia. A multistage sampling procedure was followed to select 160 sample youths. The collected data from sampled youths were analyzed by both descriptive statistics and a probit econometric model. Among the agricultural enterprises, the majority of the youths (63.3%) preferred livestock enterprises indicating livestock sector job creation capacity in Ethiopia. The seasonal nature of agricultural income, fear of agricultural risk, and lack of initial capital were the top three factors hindering youth participation in the agricultural enterprise as rural job creation works. The probit model result shows that, among the hypothesized variables, education level, credit getting bureaucracy, lack of initial capital, fear of the group, risk and uncertainty, and lack of working place determine significantly youth participation in agriculture enterprises. Hence, respective bodies must group youths based on their preferred interest and evaluate their business plan critical before credit disbursement, while solving credit providing terms problems on the microfinance side and the introduction of agricultural insurance through these youth agricultural enterprises for agricultural risk fear needs stakeholders’ interventions. Overall, initial savings, interest rate, and payback period of credit need special policy adjustments to increase youth participation in an agricultural enterprise.

The Ilima-Letsema programme's contribution to poverty alleviation in Gauteng Province, South Africa

“…Therefore, there is no guarantee that farmers operating on large-scale can create more employment opportunities. The negative and significant influence of education on job creation in the agricultural sector is similar to the findings by other scholars (Tarekegn et al, 2022). It shows that attainment of higher educational qualifications is not an assurance of employment creation amongst agricultural entrepreneurs.…”

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

“…Five out of the thirteen studies [58,[62][63][64][65] explored the role of access to finance as a significant determinant affecting the involvement of young people in agribusiness activities. The availability of finance is a major driver stimulating youth to engage in agribusiness, but the challenge of accessing funds to initiate agribusiness in most African countries remains a concern [58,66].…”

“…Tadesse [36] argued that access to financial services enhances securing other resources such as land, labor, and farm tools. However, the lack of access to financial resources has resulted in a decreased inclination among young individuals in Ethiopia to engage in agricultural activities [64]. Furthermore, scholarly research from the Democratic Republic of the Congo [54] highlighted that the limited availability of financial resources was a significant obstacle to young people's participation in agriculture.…”

“…The role of socioeconomic characteristics, including age, gender, education, and income, on the interest of young individuals in engaging in agribusiness was examined in six studies [2,55,56,64,65]. Most of the studies have emphasized the importance of education in cultivating positive perceptions and fostering interest in agriculture among youth.…”

School dropout and early marriage affects youth agribusiness employment

“…School dropout is one of the challenges locking the education sector in Malawi, with most of the school dropouts falling below the age of eighteen and into the childhood group. In order to earn a living, the youth who have dropped out of school often enter into early marriages and engage in a variety of self-employment agribusiness enterprises, such as poultry, vegetables (onions, tomatoes, and potatoes), sheep and goat fattening, cereal production, and dairy production (Tarekegn et al, 2022). These enterprises are selected due to their perceived profitability.…”