Evaluation of youth involvement in local farm practices of vegetable production in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the youth participation in indigenous farm practices of vegetable production in
Oyo State. The study specifically identified various indigenous farm practices that youth engage in and
their level of participation. The study was conducted in four agricultural zones in the State namely
Ibadan/Ibarapa, Oyo, Ogbomoso and Saki zones. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select
respondents from the four zones. In all, a total of 200 youths were sampled in 10 communities. The
findings revealed that the respondents mean age was 28.6 ± 3.8 years with an average of 18.2 years of
farming experience. The various indigenous practices used by youth in the study area include
handpicking (88%), hawking (87%), land clearing/hoeing (86%), ridge making (68%), seasonal planting
(81%), manure application (82%), use of ash (67%), wetting/irrigation (63%), harvesting (71%) and use of
natural pesticides (52%). There exist positive and significant correlation between level of participation
and years of formal schooling (r=0.429; p<0.05), compatibility (r=0.042; p≤0.05), cosmopoliteness
(r=0.208; p<0.05), resources availability (r=0.191; p<0.05), openness (r=0.216; p<0.05) and users’
friendliness (r=0.171; p<0.05). There also existed strong association between level of perception of
youths towards organic farming practices for indigenous vegetables and sex (χ²=121.335; p<0.05), land
acquisition (χ²=305.327; p<0.05) and marital status (χ²=275.514; p<0.05). The study concluded that
youths had been going through a process of socialization right from their early age for the skill
acquisitions in some indigenous farm practices that are part of farm operations in the study area. This
could be further reinforced by formal education and farming experience in their latter age for a
sustainable agricultural development.