Youths’ Participation in Urban Agriculture in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

Urban agricultural production is a key policy thrust to improving food security, urban employment and income generation in developing countries. Increasing youth population in urban areas exacts supply pressures on the thinning industrial labour markets, hence the call for youths’ participation in urban agriculture as an opportunity to expand the agricultural sector. This study therefore assessed the perceptions of youths about urban agriculture and identified factors influencing youths’ participation in urban agriculture. Data obtained from youths (aged 18 to 35 years) in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria were analysed using descriptive statistics, Likert analysis and logit regression. Results showed that 70.1% of the youths were in the range of 21–30 years and 79.1% of them were single. About 84.3% of the youths were literate and attained one form of formal education or other with mean annual income of ₦1,321,852. Furthermore, 38.8% of them participated in urban agriculture with 75.0 % of the youth farmers having less than six years of farming experience. The youths disagreed that agriculture is a low status, dirty, unprofitable livelihood activity meant for the poor and uneducated individuals. Having access to urban farmland and being a married male and older youth increased the likelihood of participating in urban agriculture, while longer market distance, attaining a higher level of formal education, and poor access to credit and land reduced it.