Youths’ perception on cashew production towards poverty reduction

Abstract

The study assessed youth perception on cashew production towards reducing povertyin Osun State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are; to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the youths involved in cashew production, identify the factors that encourage the involvement of youths in cashew productionand examine the perception of youth about cashew productionin Osun State. A multistage sampling procedure was adopted to select 96 respondents and structural interview scheduled was used to collect data from the selected respondents. The data collected were subjected to descriptive analysis such as frequency counts, percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential analysis such aschi-square analysisto test for the hypothesis.Results show that the majority (83.3%)of the youths thatinvolved incashew productionare male, with mean age of 30.94 ±2.4 years, an average farm size of 2.19 ± 0.45hectares and average annual income of ₦164,84400K± ₦41,965.40K($457.9 ± $116.6). About 53.1 percent of the respondents practice cashew farming mainly to earn a living. Findings from the study show those factorssuch as unemployment in non-agricultural sectors;favourable environment for cashew production including marketing availabilityand provide employmentopportunityamong others are motivational factors that enhances their involvement.Furthermore, source of information (χ2=32.331, p ≤0.01)),sex (χ2=7.513, p ≤0.05), marital status (χ2= 10.603, p ≤0.05)and reason for practicing cashew farming (χ2=29.766, p ≤0.05)had a positive and significant association with perception of youths towardscashew production. The study concluded that youths had a positive perception of cashew productionandrecommended among others that trainings in cashew value chainactivities should be organized by agricultural development stakeholders to promote youthinvolvement in cashew value chain activities.