IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES ON YOUTH AGRIPRENEURSHIP EMPOWERMENT AND PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA

In the context of addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria, agriculture has been recognized as a highly promising sector that offers significant employment opportunities, capable of positively transforming the economic status of young individuals. Consequently, the Nigerian government, in collaboration with development partners, has been implementing various agricultural programs aimed at empowering young people through agribusiness for several years. However, there is a lack of concrete evidence regarding the effectiveness of these initiatives. Therefore, this study aimed to empirically evaluate the impact of an agricultural training program on the performance and empowerment of youth agripreneurs, focusing on the case of the Fadama GUYS program in Nigeria. The study collected primary data from a sample of 977 respondents, consisting of 455 program participants and 522 non-participants, across three states in Nigeria. To analyze the impact of the program on youth agripreneurship performance, the study employed the Propensity Score Matching method. The study identified several factors that significantly influenced participation in the program, including gender, level of formal education, intention to engage in agribusiness, and perception of training and agribusiness. The impact analysis revealed a positive and statistically significant effect of the program on agripreneurship performance. To examine the impact of training on empowerment, the study utilized a three-stage estimation procedure, combining an endogenous treatment effect regression model with a Tobit model. The results indicated that training, as facilitated by improved agripreneurship performance, contributed to youth empowerment. Based on these findings, the study concluded that participation in training led to enhanced performance and empowerment among youth agripreneurs. Therefore, it is recommended that stakeholders seeking to empower young people through agribusiness should develop interventions and strategies to alter youths' perception of agribusiness, encouraging their active involvement in agricultural programs. Furthermore, there is a need to increase investments in agricultural training, as demonstrated by the case study.

 

 

 

 

 

AERC – Africa Economic Research Consortium ATE – Average Treatment Effect

ATT – Average Treatment Effect on the Treated CBM – Calliper-Based Matching

EPM – Entrepreneurship Performance Model

ETER –Endogenous Treatment Effect Regression Model

FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FIML - Full Information Maximum Likelihood

GHS - General Household Survey

GUYS – Graduates Unemployed Youths and Women Support IITA – International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

ILO – International Labour Organization KBM – Kernel-Based Matching

LIFE – The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise LIML – Limited Information Maximum Likelihood MOFA – Ministry of Food and Agriculture

NBS – National Bureau of Statistics

NISER – National Institute of Science Education and Research NNM – Nearest Neighbour Matching 

NPC – National Population Commission ODK – Open Data Kit

OECD – Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OLS – Ordinary Least Square

PSM – Propensity Score Matching SB – Standardized Bias

SSA – Sub-Saharan Africa UN – United Nations

UNESCO-UNEVOC – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Vocational Education

USD – United States Dollar

YCAD – Youth Commercial Agriculture Development Programme YEAP – Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme

YISA – Youth Initiatives for Sustainable Agriculture YEDF – Youth Enterprise Development Fund

 

Africa has the best population structure in the world. However, the continent is currently in dilemma on whether ‘youth bulge’ is an asset in disguise or a ‘ticking time bomb’ patiently waiting to explode. This is because about 230 million people are aged between 15 and 24 years and forms over 35 per cent of the entire African population, while those in the age group 25 to 34 years accounts for 27 per cent of the entire population (United Nations, 2015). It is worth noting that young people are critical to the social, political and economic development of Africa and could transform the trajectory of Africa’s economy if adequate investment measures and policy framework are put in place. In addition, the youth represent exceptional opportunities and hope for the next generation owing to their zeal and capability to contribute immensely to nation building.

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), majority of young people (70 per cent) are living in the rural areas (International Labour Organisation, 2012), where they are faced with high poverty levels, food insecurity, critical cases of unemployment and underemployment. These areas are characterized by poor health facilities, inadequate access to information and services, poor quality of education and limited skill development opportunities. Thus, youth in these areas are at the centre of a critical economic crisis which limits them in changing their social and economic status as well as their future prospect (Allen et al., 2016). Another major challenge in many SSA countries is the skewness and dysfunctionality of the labour markets against young people (International Labour Organization, 2012). It is unfortunate that today, many young people in the rural areas barely survive on paltry sources of livelihoods, particularly young women who are always marginalized by African cultural practices and norms (Mastercard Foundation, 2015). There are many employed youths who have remained poor despite having jobs. This indicates the poor quality of most of the jobs that are available (International Labour Organization, 2016).

The situation is not different in Nigeria which is largely a youthful country, with about 60 per cent of the population between 18 - 35 years of age (Oduwole, 2015). Youth unemployment is a serious issue in Nigeria. According to Surajo (2016), Over 80 per cent of the Nigerian youths are jobless. Competition for the available few job opportunities has led to continued marginalization and segregation of the already marginalized youth. As a result, there is low transition of young people from school to work which is even tougher for young women who are more prone to underemployment, unemployment, and discrimination than men. According to Kazeem (2016), Nigerian universities and colleges release up to 500,000 graduates annually to the labour market, but the absorption rate of the market is less than 50 per cent, thereby forcing many young people to do unimaginable jobs. It is not surprising that young graduates often become money changers, street vendors, operators of public phones, traders, security officers, for lack of good job opportunities. The issue is further expounded by the slow rate of retirement among public employees coupled with the mismatch between the training youths receive and the skills sought by employers (Brewer, 2013).

Consequently, this high rate of youth unemployment has led to failure of many youths affording their daily basic needs. Thus, majority of young men are forced to join rebel groups or go into illegal acts whereas young women either find themselves in early marriages, early pregnancy or prostitution (Alabi, 2014; Asaju, 2014). Young women have also become completely vulnerable to the extent that they experience sexual and gender-based violence (Kabeer, 2014). The high political instability in the northern part of the country coupled with the economic and social strife in other parts of the country have deepened inequalities between young men and women. Limited livelihood opportunities have severely increased desperation among the youth. The country is on the verge of an internal war if appropriate and permanent solutions to address youth unemployment are not put in place.

Nigeria requires a strong commitment to foster youth employment if it is to respond to the continuous appeal of designing policies that will give young people better opportunities in finding decent jobs. However, policy interventions cannot happen overnight given the current status of the country. At the centre of all possible policy interventions lies the agricultural sector. The country has huge agricultural potentials which have not been fully tapped over decades. According to Lawal (2011), the role played by the agricultural sector in the economic development of any country cannot be overemphasized. It is believed that Nigeria has the capacity to feed her ever-increasing population, eradicate poverty and hunger, harvest the unemployed and underemployed and become the engine of Africa’s economic growth.

Youth bulge is a common phenomenon associated with many developing countries, particularly those with history of rapid population growth, high fertility rate and no restriction on birth rate (Ahmed, 2014). It is a challenging issue for the Africa continent. The opportunity cost of ignoring it is already evident in the increasing political and social instability which is more daunting. This is a serious concern to the politically unstable states, where a large number of youths are likely to join the rebel movements due to lack of employment opportunities (Urdal, 2006).

Youth bulge has reflective socio-economic and political impacts as it presents both threats and opportunities. It may be a national asset if relevant policies to enhance youths’ skills and capabilities are put in place; otherwise, it will create a serious social, political and economic challenge to the country (Ahmed, 2014). According to Omoju and Abraham (2014), youth bulge is potentially beneficial to a country as it can propel economic growth and development. Contrary to this opinion, Urdal (2006) opined that, rather than being an asset, youth bulge could pose more problems due to the high rate of risky and negative behaviour associated with youth people. Thus, the consequences of youth bulge depend on the institutional environment and policies of the hosting countries.

Youths are valuable assets that can contribute immensely to economic growth and development (Mcdowell, 2007; Gupta, 2014). Youths on one hand could contribute to the development of different sectors of the economy if their energies are channelled towards legal and profitable activities. However, in Africa, youth bulge has compounded the problem of unemployment which is accompanied by high economic and social costs that every African country is struggling to pay (Schoof, 2006).

Many African countries including Nigeria, are currently experiencing economic hiccups. The current challenge of youth employment in Nigeria is a clear indication that there is a need for urgent policy- and programme-level interventions. One of the initiatives taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria was the inclusion of entrepreneurship studies in the curriculum of tertiary institutions (Aliu & Ibe, 2008; Olorundare & Kayode, 2014). Even though much research has not focused on assessing the impact of this intervention, majority of graduates in Nigeria are forced to depend on the skills acquired during these entrepreneurship classes (Bello, 2018).

In recent years, youth entrepreneurship has gained some more importance all over the world as a means of indorsing employment opportunities and stimulating local, regional and global development (Sitoula, 2015). According to Mohamed and AliSheikh (2017), entrepreneurship has been recognized as an important instrument which could help young people to change their attitude as well as acquire relevant skills for economic and social empowerment. White and Kenyon (2000) posited that entrepreneurship is crucial for promoting resilience and innovation among youths. The result of their study showed that youth enterprises give young people, particularly the marginalized ones, a sense of ‘meaning’ and ‘belonging’ which is capable of shaping their identity.

Nigeria, just like most countries of the world, has adopted entrepreneurship as a strategic approach to facilitate economic participation and create employment opportunities among young people. This interest in youth entrepreneurship was obviously stirred up by the consistent rise in the rate of unemployment, poverty level, and the high reliance of young people on limited white-collar jobs. Olorundare and Kayode (2014) strongly opined that entrepreneurship activity will bring about social changes through generation of wealth.

In addition to national efforts, many development partners including the World Bank, have come to support local stakeholders to facilitate youth entrepreneurship development, particularly, in the field of Agriculture. The agricultural sector has been reported to hold high employment potentials for young people provided it is supported by adequate investments, a conducive legal environment and appropriate policy frameworks ( Koira, 2014; Girard, 2016). In view of this, the Nigerian government with the support of development partners have shown their political commitment towards empowering young people through agricultural training. According to Yami et al. (2019), in an effort to reduce youth dependence on formal jobs, (which compounds the problem of unemployment) there is increasing investment in agricultural programmes aimed at promoting youth participation in agribusiness. According to Awogbenle and Iwuamadi (2010), there were remarkable numbers of initiatives by various administrations between 1986 and 2010 to promote youth empowerment through the creation of gainful self-employment opportunities. Examples of such initiatives include Npower, Youth Commercial Agriculture Development Programme (YCAD), Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), Youth Initiatives for Sustainable Agriculture (YISA), The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise (LIFE), and the Fadama Graduate Unemployed Youths and Women Support (GUYS) Programme whose only activity was to train youths in the field agribusiness.

The common objectives of these programmes were to reduce youth unemployment and ensure youths are empowered to be economically stable. To achieve this, their common activities include skills development, facilitating access to resources, and how to use technologies in agribusiness (Yami et al., 2019). For instance, training on agribusiness management is expected to help the youths to successfully run and manage an agribusiness enterprise. However, very little is known on the success or failure of these activities in facilitating youth agripreneurship performance and empowerment. Thus, the extent to which these programmes are able to achieve their objective has to be examined so as to provide evidence which can inform practical policy formulation on youth agripreneurship.

Studies have shown that the agricultural sector is capable of absorbing over 70 per cent of Nigeria population, thereby creating jobs for people in different agribusiness areas (Nwajiuba, 2012; Ogbalubi & Wokocha, 2013; Ogunleye, 2017). Thus, as a strategy to reduce youth unemployment, agripreneurship is increasingly being adopted as a valuable and significant means of creating job opportunities, improving the livelihoods and facilitating the economic independence of young people. Government organizations and other development stakeholders have come up to support youth entrepreneurship development and empowerment by organizing youth-specific training programmes, particularly, in the field of Agriculture. According to Awogbenle and Iwuamadi (2010) and Yami et al. (2019), there have been numerous interventions aimed at achieving youth empowerment through agribusiness in Nigeria. An example of such programmes is the Fadama GUYS programme, which was implemented in 2017 under a tri-partite agreement between the Federal and State government of Nigeria and the World bank. Many youths have been trained under the GUYS programme but, its impact on youths economic status has not been assessed since much research has not been conducted to provide empirical evidence on the success and challenges. This corroborates the findings of Yami et al. (2019) that even though there have been lots of interventions, there is no or little empirical evidence  on the success or failure of these interventions, which has made it difficult to make practical policy recommendations from them.

Most studies on entrepreneurial training programmes are not sector-specific. For instance, Nasra and Ali (2017)   conducted a related study in Somalia and found that indeed training was of significant benefit to youth enterprise. However, the study was not based on agricultural training programmes and focused on self-employed youths. Also, Karanja (2014) found that entrepreneurial training significantly influenced the performance of youth enterprises in Kenya. However, the study primarily focused on youth enterprises while ignoring unemployed youths. This study, therefore, sought to give a more comprehensive and clearer picture of youth entrepreneurship, particularly, youth agripreneurship and specifically the role of agricultural training on performance as well as the sustainability and success of these programmes.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that several studies have been conducted on the development of youth entrepreneurship in Nigeria but, only a few have analysed the impact of agricultural training programmes on youth agripreneurship using a case study. Many studies seem to focus on factors determining participation rather than measuring the impact on economic outcomes. For instance, Awogbenle and Iwuamadi, (2010); Okoli and Okoli, (2013); Chidiebere et al. (2014) explained the significance of education/training in fostering entrepreneurship development but did not assess the impact of training either on performance or empowerment. In addition, the study intends to address this research gap by assessing the impact of agricultural training programme on youth agripreneurship performance and empowerment so as to broaden knowledge of the subject, narrow the knowledge gap in the area and provide empirical evidence which could contribute to policy formulation.

The main objective of the study was to assess the impact of agricultural training programmes on youth agripreneurship performance and empowerment, using the case of Fadama GUYS Programme in Nigeria. The specific objectives were to:

To achieve the objectives of the study, the following null hypotheses were tested.

Lack of empirical evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship programmes has made it difficult to reach a logical conclusion on what worked or what did not (Yami et al., 2019). Thus, identifying factors which influence youth participation in agricultural programmes will provide relevant information to policymakers, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant stakeholders which could be used in amending and formulating agricultural policies and initiatives that can motivate youth to participate in agricultural development. Increased youth participation in these agriculture has two implications on the economy. Firstly, it will help to crop more youths into the agricultural sector which will in turn help in reducing youth unemployment. Secondly, it will contribute to increased food production, thereby, contributing to the achievement of SDGs 2 on zero hunger.

Empirical evidence of the Programme impact on youth agripreneurship performance and empowerment generated from this study will inform youths on the benefits of participating in the Fadama GUYS programme and other similar programmes which could stimulate their interest to consider agribusiness as a career option. This will not only improve the outlook of agriculture but also contribute to the economic empowerment and social status of the youths. In addition, this will contribute towards the achievement of SDGs 8 on decent work and economic growth.

The methodology used to assess the Programme impact on empowerment will contribute greatly to the body of literature on impact assessment of development programmes. Specifically, it will guide future researchers on how to conceptualize and model similar cases in other countries. The study has contributed empirical evidence which can inform practical policies on the design and implementation of agricultural programmes. The findings are also expected to significantly contribute to the national and global efforts of stimulating youth engagement in agribusiness for the purpose of reducing youth unemployment and ensuring food nutrition and security in the world.

The thesis is organized into five chapters. Relevant literature on each issue as well as existing impact assessment methods and past empirical studies on impact assessment are discussed in Chapter 2. The methodology capturing data collection and methods of analysis are presented in Chapter 3. The results and relevant discussions arising from the analysed data are presented in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 presents the summary, conclusions and recommendations based on the study findings.