Abstract

Agriculture has been an important sector in the Nigerian economy in the past decades. According to Word Bank 2020 report, Agriculture has provided over 30% employment for the entire population. This makes agriculture to be a branch of the economy in Nigeria and remains the major source of livelihood for most people. A country that is richly blessed with abundant natural and human resources that if properly handled can feed its people and export the surpluses to other countries is still wallowing in poverty till date. The rural area has been the highest sector of the economy with largest poverty rate in Nigeria. Even though Nigeria has the highest number of youths in the world with massive resource in the area of agriculture sector but unfortunately, youth participation in agriculture is declining, youth are not interested in joining agriculture because they see agriculture sector as an unattractive area to work. To increase agricultural production and solve the problem of rural poverty, the youths must be involving in agricultural activities. Their participation is strongly needed for agricultural reform so that it can keep pace with changing global economy. Therefore, this paper presents the importance of youth participation in agriculture as a way of reducing poverty in Nigeria. The findings revealed that the provisions of vocational guidance to the youth will expose them to vocational guidance through incorporating all aspects of the agriculture in schools? curriculum at a young age. The use of innovative agricultural technology to train the youths, creation of agro cities among other to encourage the youth in agricultural participation.

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