Youths' Participation in Agricultural Production in Oyo State: Panacea to Agribusiness Development in Nigeria

This study investigates involvement of youths in Agriculture in Egbeda LGA of Oyo state Nigeria Primary data was collected using structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit regression model. Most (35%) of the respondents have ages between 30-35 years. 53% have tertiary education, and 29% are involved in youth empowerment programme. Only 53% of the youths practice agriculture. Poultry enterprise (28.30%) recorded the highest participation while piggery (1.88%) recorded the least. Age (0.001), Knowledge ofagriculture (0.010) and amount of credit (0.033) have positive and significant relationship with youths' participation in agriculture. Young farmers need to interact with older and more experienced farmers for higher productivity Credit at low interest rates needs to be made available for youth who intend to practice agriculture most especially in the _area of poultry production which is the most promising enterprise among the youths. Agricultural value addition and regular visit by,agricultural extension workers will overcome low prices of produce and expose the youth farmers to new technology and techniques in agriculture. Youth empowerment program needs to be made available for all youth in both rural and urban areas. KEYWORDS: Youths, agriculture, participation, logit, Nigeria