Assessing the Impact of Youth-in-Agribusiness Program on Poverty and Vulnerability to Poverty in Nigeria

Abstract

Poverty persists in many developing countries, including Nigeria, owing to inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, or poor working conditions, among other factors. Youth poverty and vulnerability to poverty have been identified to prevalent among the young population. Using an endogenous switching probit regression approach, in this study, we evaluated the impacts of youth participation in agribusiness programs (YIAPs) on poverty and vulnerability to poverty in Nigeria. Our findings revealed that some demographic and institutional factors significantly influence poverty and vulnerability to poverty among youth. The impact estimates indicate that participation in an agribusiness program has a significant positive effect on poverty reduction among youth. Moreover, there would have been about a 28% reduction in exposure to future poverty for non-participants had they participated in a YIAP. Our results suggest that intervention programs, such as YIAPs, that focus on skill acquisition and youth empowerment should be strengthened and scaled-up in order to improve youth welfare and subsequently reduce/eradicate poverty and vulnerability to poverty among youth.

Youth Engagement in Agribusiness: Perception, Constraints, and Skill Training Interventions in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…For example, various programs have been implemented in Nigeria, such as the Youth in Agriculture Initiative (YIA), the N-Power Agro program, and the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) [14]. These projects have shown promising outcomes in empowering young people and enhancing their sustainable livelihoods [70,88]. Furthermore, it is imperative that these programs have sufficient funding and actively interact with pertinent stakeholders, including youth and community leaders, to guarantee their appropriate design and implementation.…”

“…Five studies [19,25,[70][71][72] focused on the role of information in influencing young people towards agribusiness. Some studies indicated that facilitating youth access to technology may increase engagement and productivity in the agriculture sector [71,72].…”

“…Five papers [14,69,70,75,78] focused on the effect of training intervention programs on youth employment and poverty reduction. One of the studies conducted by [70] revealed that the engagement of young people in agricultural initiatives had a substantial impact on poverty alleviation, resulting in a noteworthy 28% decrease in the likelihood of experiencing poverty in the future.…”

“…Five papers [14,69,70,75,78] focused on the effect of training intervention programs on youth employment and poverty reduction. One of the studies conducted by [70] revealed that the engagement of young people in agricultural initiatives had a substantial impact on poverty alleviation, resulting in a noteworthy 28% decrease in the likelihood of experiencing poverty in the future. Based on the findings of [6,14], implementing skill training interventions virtually facilitates acquiring gainful work opportunities within the agricultural value chain among young people.…”

Perceptions, willingness, opportunities, and effects of youth participation in agricultural enterprises.

“…In developing countries, youth unemployment is a challenge and has received the increasing attention in policy formation (Bello, 2022). Africa faces constraints to increase rural economic growth which has the potential to create job opportunities.…”