Youth in agriculture and food security in Nigeria

Abstract

PurposeThough agriculture has the potential for job creation for the growing population; nevertheless, most Nigerian youth merely see the agricultural sector as a viable opportunity for livelihood. In the quest for food security, as encapsulated in sustainable development goals (SDGs), youth participation in agriculture is essential to unlock the agricultural sector’s potential and ensure adequate food production.Design/methodology/approachThis study examined the factors influencing youth involvement in agriculture and its impact on food security in Nigeria, using Ekiti and Kwara States. The study engaged a multi-stage random sampling approach. The first stage involved a purposeful selection of the states among youth in agriculture-related activities. The second stage involved randomly selecting five Local Government Areas (LGAs) from each state. The third stage involved a random selection of five communities in the selected LGAs, making it a total of 25 communities for each state. Finally, 20 households were selected per community. In total, 500 respondents were selected from each of the two states, making it a total of 1,000 respondents for the survey. The Foster-Greer-Thorbeck (FGT) analysis uses the logit regression and the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques.FindingsThe results showed that a large proportion (about 95%) of the youth farmers in the study area fell below the food security line (N6448.45) and are food insecure. Findings from the PSM showed that youth in agriculture has no significant impact on food security. The findings from the logit regression showed that gender, age, level of education, land ownership, income, safety net or social protection and value chain are significant determinants of youth participation in agriculture.Practical implicationsThis study contributes to the literature by examining the determinants of youth in agriculture and its impact on food security in Nigeria, using Ekiti and Kwara States, by engaging the FGT, logit regression and PSM.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by examining the determinants of youth in agriculture and its impact on food security in Nigeria, using Ekiti and Kwara States, by engaging the FGT, logit regression and PSM.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2021-0197