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Author
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Ngoya, Nyengeterai
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Title
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To Examine youth perceptions on their willingness to participate in agricultural entrepreneurship: a study of ward 1 and 2, Chikomba district
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Abstract
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The foundation of Zimbabwe's economy is agriculture, which also creates jobs, economic growth, and food security. But it has been beset by a number of issues, including an aging farmer population, urban migration, and the widespread belief that agriculture is an outdated and unappealing career path. To guarantee inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth, it's critical to investigate young people's perspectives on agricultural entrepreneurship. Identifying youth perceptions on their willingness to participate in Agricultural Entrepreneurship was the main aim of this study which was assessed in Chikomba District Ward 1 and 2. 80 youths out of a population of about 10,000 people were selected using the stratified random sampling. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from the youths through the use of structured questionnaires. Multinomial logistic regression analysis model was used to identify factors influencing youth to participate in Agricultural entrepreneurship. The results show that Land ownership, Agro-machinery ownership, Background, and Locality are significant predictors of youth willingness to participate in agriculture-related entrepreneurship. Specifically, Land ownership (Chi-Square = 24.067, p < 0.001), Agro-machinery ownership (Chi-Square = 11.626, p = 0.003), Family background (Chi-Square = 7.603, p = 0.022), and Locality (Chi-Square = 16.143, p < 0.001) significantly improve the model fit. This suggests that youth who have access to land, own agricultural machinery, come from a relevant background, and reside in certain localities are more likely to participate in agricultural entrepreneurship. These factors are critical and should be prioritized in policies and support programs to enhance youth engagement in agriculture. Ranking and Scoring was the analytical tool used to identify challenges and barriers that are faced by the young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. Challenges like lack of information, with a mean of 4.3 and a standard deviation of 0.81753, indicating that most respondents strongly agree that it is a challenge, limited access to markets, with a mean score of 4.2 and a standard deviation of 1.4768 indicating that it is a major challenge and also limited access to credit, with a mean a mean score of 3.9 and a standard deviation of 1.51030 also poses a significant challenge. Likert scale was used to identify the level of willingness for youths to participate in agriculture. The enthusiasm is completed by the neutral to willing categories, comprising 18.75% neutral, 26.25% willing and 40% very willing participants. Such positive attitudes suggests a promising outlook for youth involvement in agricultural entrepreneurship.
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Date
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June 2024
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Publisher
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BUSE
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Keywords
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Agricultural entrepreneurship
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Supervisor
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Mr Mafuse
Ngoya - AEM.pdf