CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Agriculture has played a main source of employment since independence in Sri Lanka. Currently,
23.73 % of the total population has been employed in agriculture and agriculture-related activities
for their livelihoods, contributing 8.36 percent to GDP by 2020 (Central Bank Report, 2020)
Ethiopia’s development plan has laid out enhancing agricultural production and productivity as
one of the major strategic pillars
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.
Ethiopia has recognized agriculture as a key sector for economic growth and poverty reduction.
The government has implemented various policies and initiatives to promote agricultural
development and increase youth participation in the sector. Here are some key points regarding
Ethiopian government policy and the challenges of youth participation in agriculture:
Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA): The Ethiopian government established the ATA in
2010 to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector. The ATA
implements various programs and initiatives to address the challenges faced by farmers, including
youth farmers.
Agricultural Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI): The ADLI strategy, launched in the
1990s, aims to transform Ethiopia's predominantly subsistence agriculture into a modern, market-
oriented sector. The strategy emphasizes the need to engage youth in agriculture and create
employment opportunities for them.
Youth and agriculture are the twin pillars of sustainable growth in developing countries. There is
an urgent need to involve youth in decision making processes at all levels to reorient agricultural
research for development.
To ensure the continued prosperity of African agriculture and to eradicate poverty, unemployment,
and inequality, it is imperative that young people have access to economic possibilities in the
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agricultural sector. However, obstacles prevent young people from being involved in agriculture
and the larger food system. The purpose of this scoping review was to look into the potential and
difficulties that young people in Africa face when they get involved in agriculture and the food
chain. Using the PRISMA guidelines, this review carried out a scoping review. Online databases
(Web of Science, Cab Direct, and Science Direct) were used to retrieve published papers from
2009 to 2019. The results demonstrated that current agricultural initiatives are centered on
productivity, resulting in low incomes and little social support..
Youth are one of the most important sectors in any society. Apart from being a major source of
manpower for socioeconomic development of the society, youth serve as channels for the
transmission of culture and the perpetration of a people’s recognizable identity.
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.(Tarekegn et al., 2022)
Youth’s access to knowledge and information is crucial for addressing the main challenges they
face in agriculture. In order for rural youth to shape agricultural policies affecting them directly,
in terms of access to markets and finance as well as green jobs and land, they need to receive
appropriate information and education. While this is true in developed and developing countries
alike, it is of particular concern in the latter, where young rural inhabitants may lack access to even
the most rudimentary formal education, and where educational institutions are often less
developed. Formal primary and secondary education can provide young people with basic
numeracy and literacy, managerial and business skills, and introduce youth to agriculture.
The Youth’s access to knowledge and information is crucial for addressing the main challenges
they face in agriculture. In order for rural youth to shape agricultural policies affecting them
directly, in terms of access to markets and finance as well as green jobs and land, they need to
receive appropriate information and education. While this is true in developed and developing
countries alike, it is of particular concern in the latter, where young rural inhabitants may lack
access to even the most rudimentary formal education, and where educational institutions are often
less developed. Formal primary and secondary education can provide young people with basic
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numeracy and literacy, managerial and business skills, and introduce youth to agriculture.
Meanwhile, non-formal education (including vocational training and extension services) and
tertiary agricultural education can offer youth more specific knowledge related to agriculture.
warrants impact oriented efforts at scale by involving youth to play a catalytic role in establishing
‘Plough to Plate’ chain. This depends on greater involvement of youth through effective
networking for knowledge sharing and out scaling of innovations (MIJARC et al, 2012).
According to Asrat, (2012) youth has the capability and capacity to make significant changes in
agriculture but needs right policies and proper grooming. However, according to Rob et al., (2014)
rural youth continue to face challenges related to unemployment, underemployment
The Ethiopian National youth policy was endorsed at 100th Federal Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia council of Minsters regular meeting that was held on March 12, 2004. It emphasizes
creating an enabling environment for the young in participation of the democratization and
development effort of the country, to build the capacity of the young so as to make them more
employable, to create network between the young and different groups of the society. The National
Youth policy of Ethiopia aims at “enabling youth to participate in an organized manner in the
process of building a democratic system, good governance and development endeavors and benefit
fairly from the outcomes “(MOYCS, 2004).
Being Consistent with the policy document, the BGRS Rural Job Opportunity Creation and
Development Agency spells out that the need to and nature of rural unemployed youth
employability in their rural setting. It also puts the basic layout of the implementation system from
the regional office to smallest youth groups. Roles and responsibilities at every echelon have been
described in the manual. The goal of the agency was towards achieving securing deep rooted food
insecurity in the rural area, employing youth who are unemployed and under employed in the rural
area and further increasing of agricultural productivity using the talent and potential of youth,
which is done through both individual youth as well as group based organization. Thus, the rural
job opportunity creation system is designed to achieve the rural transformation agenda, through
active engagement of the rural unemployed youth in all agriculture based job opportunity which
would boost agricultural productivity through intensive use of youth potential (BOA, 2013).
At the Zonal level, there is an office of agriculture under which rural job opportunity creation sub
office has been organized as a division. Some 3 to 5 professionals on average are assigned whose
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major task is provision of support, training and supervision to the Woreda personnel. At Woreda
level, the rural job opportunity creation core work process has been organized in the same manner.
There are subject matter specialists whose role is support provision, supervision and preparation
of entrepreneur messages to be communicated by the cluster supervisors and Kebele extension
agents to youth
The studies of Rob et al., (2014) and Atnafuet al., (2014) showed that despite the agricultural
sector’s ample potential to provide income-generating opportunities for rural youth, challenges
related specifically to youth participation in this sector and, more importantly, options for
overcoming them are not extensively emphasized. The majority of rural labor force who are
migrating to cities are youth; none of the parents expected to stay their children in agriculture based
job .The question “who will participate in agriculture?” and thus becomes pertinent and
challenging one for national food security and sustainability.
Accordingly to Tadele and Gella (2012), Finding young individuals who want to work in
agriculture, particularly in farm and animal husbandry, is becoming more and more of a struggle.
They discovered that young people in rural areas are being brought up with ambitions for careers
that go well beyond agriculture, endangering the business. Severe land shortages, greater migration
to metropolitan areas, and increased exposure of youth to the media and educational systems are
all likely to amplify this negative mindset. Nevertheless, either by choice or due to a lack of
alternative options, a large number of young people in rural areas are likely to choose jobs in
agriculture as their primary or sole source of income. Additionally, MOI, (2002) and Yisehaket
al., (2012) claimed that the Ethiopian government has implemented policies to achieve this goal
and believes that it is crucial to ensure that young people continue to have opportunities for
employment in agriculture for two key reasons. First, the unchecked migration of young people
from rural to urban regions is likely to overwhelm the urban economy, which is not equipped to
handle such a large influx. Therefore, the proposal suggests that up to 70% of rural youth and
children enrolled in school should be kept in their existing location and prepared to pursue a career
in agriculture. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it considers the rural young and especially
the educated rural youth to be vital to the transformation of the agricultural sector it seeks. It
considers the older generation of farmers to be either unwilling or incapable of acquiring and
implementing the technical skills necessary to bring about such a transformation. Thus, the policy
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argues that, the transformation can only be realized if educated youth are at the fore front; paving
the way.
Therefore, this study aims to explore the socio-economic and demographic factors affecting rural
youth participation in agriculture based job, attitude of rural youth and parents towards agriculture
based job opportunity, and institutional factors that shape them, and the implications they have to
government policy.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The Ethiopian economic development is very much determined by its agricultural activities.
According to the report of MOI, (2002) It is necessary to change the traditional agricultural
practices that currently create jobs into ones that are market-oriented, creative, and technology-
driven. These practices are defined by excess production, better farm management, and increased
use of inputs and outputs in production. This transformation as stated by Yisehaket al., (2012)
demands the active involvement of the younger generation living in rural areas, as demonstrated
by the policy discourse's emphasis on the role that rural youth play in bringing about the intended
changes and transformations to the agricultural sector. This in turn helps to increase the agriculture
sector's part in hiring unemployed young in rural areas, providing them with a respectable income
and preserving their way of life.
According to MOI, (2002) report and Asrat, (2012) findings the Ethiopian government established
the foundation for the reform of the agricultural sector, which will power the transformation of
other sectors through the extensive use of a highly motivated rural worker force. In addition, it is
expected of rural youth to learn and use new technology as well as enhanced and best farming
methods in order to meet the objectives of the policy for rural and agricultural development. It's
also possible that young people will seize control and choose what happens to agriculture in the
[Link], the youth are given the chance to work and earn money for their daily needs.
Because of this, the nation's rural and agricultural development policy places a high priority on
developing rural youth's potential through relevant education and training in agriculture. It is
possible to investigate factors affecting rural youth participation in agriculture by macroeconomic
approach, yet the behavior of youth on the aggregate level may not necessarily be the same as on
an individual or household level. A macro approach to study the determinants of rural youth
participation in agriculture would be misleading in a country like Ethiopia where cultural,
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economical and social diversity is high. This reality is persuading to shift to micro level analysis
on the determinants of rural youth participation in agriculture. Individuals and families attitude
towards rural youth participation in agriculture vary greatly. Even within the same family, people
have different behavior towards participation in agriculture. This matter needs to be discussed
more at micro level. So that rural youth participation in agriculture at micro level will be analyzed
under this study.
In the Ethiopian setting, the subject of what prevents young people from rural areas from pursuing
employment opportunities in agriculture and the impl ications of this for farming's future in
relation to government policy have not been sufficiently investigated. It also Most young people in
rural areas lack access to land, even though there is open land available and they inherit land from their
parents. In addition, young people are deterred from pursuing professions in agriculture by the high cost
of agricultural inputs and the absence of assistance for agriculture training.
There is a need for more research to examine the variables influencing the involvement of rural
youth in agriculture. This study aims to address this need by assessing the current level of rural
youth participation in agriculture and examining the factors that influence it.
The question of what hinders the rural youth participating from agriculture based job opportunity
and the implication of this to the future of farming in relation to government policy have not been
adequately explored in the Ethiopian context. This need for further research to investigate factors
that affect rural youth participation in agriculture. It is to this need that this study examine the
status of rural youth participation and investigate factors that affect rural youth participation in
agriculture
1.3 .Objectives of the Study
1.3.1. General Objective
The general objective of the study is to analyze the status of rural youth participation and to
investigate factors that affect rural youth participation in agriculture inwombera Woreda of
metekel Zone, beneshangule gumuze regional steate
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1.3.2. Specific Objectives
1) identify perception of youths towards agricultural in the study area
2) identify the key factors affecting the rural youth’s participation in agriculture
3) describe the socio-economic characteristic of the youths in the study area
1.4. Research Questions
Questions need to be addressed in the study;
1) What is the status of rural youth participation in agriculture?
2) What are the factors affecting of youth to ward agriculture in different contexts?
3) What are the major factors that hinder the rural youth’s engagement in agriculture based
job opportunity?