On the other hand, modernist models of youth employment posit that interest and participation of youths in agriculture and agribusiness can be cultivated through deliberately targeted and tailored policies and programmes underpinned by “enablers and drivers” of youth employment along the agricultural value chain. [...] The key lessons include (i) the fundamental need to tackle structural constraints - infrastructural, institutional and technological (ii) the significance of modernizing, professionalizing and dignifying agricultural and agribusiness activities and (iii) deploying youth agricultural entrepreneurship for service delivery and gap-filling along the value chain. [...] The more significant factors are the nature and adequacy of training, knowledge, technology, market access and agricultural extension (Thomas and Eforuoku, 2014; Sakiluzzaman, Sarker, Rahman, Hasan, Lei and Mukta, 2018; Adeyanju, Mburu and Mignouna, 2020) and access to land, inputs and finance (Kimaro, Towo and Moshi,2015). [...] While the state’s oil and gas resources account for the bulk of statutory revenues, the employment and livelihoods of the people are derived mainly from agriculture and informal sector (trade and services). [...] The example provided by the success story of the YAGEP experiment, clearly demonstrates that, with the right mix of conditions, factors and processes, youth entrepreneurship along the agricultural value chains, is decisive in alleviating high and rising rates of youth unemployment in the country.
Authors
- Pages
- 265
- Published in
- Nigeria
