Role Of Agriculture In Economic Development

Nigeria is a nation blessed with good climatic conditions that favour agricultural production. Agriculture is an important sector in the economic development and poverty alleviation drive of many countries. The importance of this sector is more pronounced in the developing countries including Nigeria where it is the main thrust of national survival, employment, food and foreign exchange earning (Abdullahi, 1986; Adebayo and Okuneye, 2005). Though youths have desirable qualities that can promote agriculture, most of them have strong apathy toward it (Jibowo, 1998; Adedoyin, 2005; Adewale et al., 2005). This has resulted in mass unemployment and lack of sustainable livelihood activities among the youths (Breitenbach, 2006). This has further

al., 1999). The role agriculture has played in the industrial growth and development of most of the industrialized countries in the world can not be over emphasized (Adeyemi and Adekunmi, 2005). Youth-in-Agriculture programme has been described as a very important structure for land and agrarian reform which will go a long way towards promoting the interest of youth in the agricultural sector of the economy (Gwanya, 2008). Since agricultural development is the basic tool for economic development, there is the need for more emphasis to be placed on the role youth can play in agriculture (Fatula, 1996). In Nigeria, agricultural production is still carried out using physical strength, which declines with age. This has therefore been observed as one of the major constraints to agricultural production in Nigeria (Okeowo et. al., 1999). The successive regimes at the Federal Government level have introduced various agricultural development schemes with the aim of encouraging the youth and boosting food production and farmers’ income through provision of agricultural infrastructure, inputs and effective extension work (Jibowo,

The state covers an area of 14,788.723sq.km. It lies in-between longitude 4031¢ and 6000¢ East and latitude 4015¢ and 8015¢ North. The state is bounded by Ekiti and Kogi States in the North; in the East by Edo State; in the West by Ogun and Osun States and in the South by the Atlantic Ocean. A random sampling technique was employed for the selection of 22 farm locations. This was followed by administration of questionnaire to 5 beneficiaries at each location. A total of 110 responses were used for this study (Mahammad et al., 2009)

DATA PRESENTATION

Table 1: Distribution according to sex of youth - in - agriculture programme in ondo state

SEX FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

MALE 91 83

FEMALE 19 17

Source: Field Survey, 2008 Mahammad et.al Table 2: Distribution according to marital status of youth - in - agriculture programme in ondo state

MARITAL STATUS FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

SINGLE 41 37

MARRIED 68 62

DIVORCED 1 1

Source: Field Survey, 2008 Mahammad et.al

Table 3: Distribution according to Level of education sex of youth - in - agriculture programme in ondo state FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE NO FORMAL EDUCATION 7 6

ADULT EDUCATIOION 3 3

PRIMARY EDUCATION 22 20

SECONDARY EDUCATION 61 55.5

POST SECONDARY EDUCATION 17