Research Journal of Social Sciences, 1(5): 87-95, 2010 2010, INSInet Publication

Economic Impact of Unemployed Graduate Youths Training in Agricultural Activities in Ogun State
Coster, A.S and Adekoya, M.I Department of Agricultural Education, Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State, Nigeria
Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the level of unemployed graduate youths participation in the agricultural activities in Ogun State. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire to elicit information from 300 Unemployed graduates participating in the agricultural training programme of Ogun State Employment Generation Scheme at Odeda Farm Institute. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results shows that 62% of the youths participating in the training programme are within the age 21 30 years and 34% are within the age 31 40 years. 58% of the graduate youths participants are female while 42% are male. Also 60% of the youths participating in the programme are single while 40% are married. Result on the skills acquired by the unemployed graduates shows that 44% acquired crop production skills, 32% acquired animal fattening skills and 24% acquired poultry production skills. It was also revealed that 58% of the youths engaged in personal agricultural activities and transferred the technologies learned during training to their personal farms indicating that the programme was successful in achieving the leading priority for its establishment. Findings revealed that some relationship exist significantly between socio-economic characteristics such as Age, marital status, sex, education, income and the level of participation of unemployed graduate youths in the agricultural training programme. Also, the study revealed that there is no significant relationship between participation in agricultural training programme and career aspiration of youths in farming. Key word: Impact, Unemployed graduate youths, Training and Agricultural activities. INTRODUCTION The Nigeria economy has undergo fundamental structural changes over the last four decades. There is evidence, however, that the dramatic structural shift that occurred did not result in any appreciable and sustained economic growth and development. The economy which was largely at rudimentary stage of development at the first half of the last century started experiencing some structural transformation immediately after the Countrys independence in 1960. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s and in the early part of 1970s, agriculture was the core economic activities in Nigeria. The manufacturing and mining activities were at low levels of development and the countrys participation in the external trade was informed by the level of economic activities in agriculture. The oil boom of 1973/74 brought a new dimension into the economic activities of the Country. The sharp increase in oil revenue in 1973/74 and again in 1979/80 had a pervasive effect on the Nigerias economy. As a result, Countrys resources shifted from the production of traded goods (mostly agricultural) to that of non-traded goods (mostly public services). The emergence of the oil boom therefore relegated agriculture to the background. Within a decade, Nigeria became a major food importer while production of exports crops declined substantially The contribution of the agricultural sector to the socio-economic development was almost brought to absolute zero before it started to dawn on the citizenry that there was the need to revitalize the sector. In recognition of these problems, the various successive governments have devised different programmes towards revitalizing the agricultural sector via rural development. Among the programme initiated were; National Accelerated Food Production programme in 1974, Operation Feed the Nation in 1976, River Basin Development Authorities in 1976, Green Revolution in 1980, Back to land in 1984, States Agricultural Development project in 1986, Directorate of Food, Road and Rural Infrastructure in 1987, Rapid Food Production Programme (RFPP) in 2001, Natural Agriculture Data Bank Project (NADB) in 2001.

Corresponding Author: Coster, A.S, Department of Agricultural Education, Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu,Ogun State, Nigeria Email: lekecoster@yahoo.co.uk
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However, it has been variously reported[4,6,13] that most of the objectives of these programs could not be achieved since they could only make little or no significant impact in revitalizing the agricultural sector. One of the major deficiencies of these programs was the neglect of the youth whose population is more than half of the total population in the rural areas[8]. These young people are a potential resource for growth and social development if gainfully and productively engaged. But they could also be a source of devastating social tension and conflict if not. In Nigeria, the degree to which youth can contribute to the possibilities of this country is constrained by circumscribed life chances, with the lack of job opportunities being one of the major circumscriptions. The countless number of young people loitering around and peopling the streets of major cities bears ample witness to the limited job opportunities that the youth of the country have. Although they contribute to the socio-economic and political growth of their communities by providing economic and emotional supports to their parents [15], however, their interest has not been adequately and properly integrated into the countrys agricultural policy vis--vis national development. Most secondary school leavers and university graduates in Nigeria are unemployed and facts show that 71% of students who graduated from Nigerian Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of education in the last six years (2000 2006) are yet to find jobs. In fact, unemployment has become chronic over the years depopulating the rural area and aggravating the evils of slums in cities and even townships (Nyako, 2006). The facts on ground shows that the population is increasing and job opportunities are getting leaner and leaner. The implications of these are the unwholesome attitude and restiveness of our youths. In fact, unemployment, among others has exacerbated social ills and delinquent behaviour among youths especially armed robbery, political thuggery and advance fee fraud, with government spending a lot of money on crime control. Strong agricultural education and training system are at the core of the productivity gains that are necessary for economy growth and poverty reduction in developing countries because they determine the quality of scientists, business professionals, teachers and civil servants in all area of agriculture (http://knowledge.cta.int accessed on 15/08/09). The youths Agricultural training sophistication increase with the mode of training in order to provide employment, for example Agricultural training programme that can be economical for wage based firm are also likely to be available to small household production units with an increasing emphasis on private sector development and growth of small enterprises.
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Nigeria has had a history of innovative youth employment programmes. In the 1980s, the government of Rivers State launched an agricultural employment programme directed at youth. The most innovative of the programme is the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) introduced by the Federal Government in 1987. The NOAS is an attempt to link education and training and the workplace. It was oversees and managed by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity. It provides vocational education and training to unemployed youth in over 100 occupations. Many State governments also set up various agricultural and vocational training institutes to empower the youths and civil servants in various skills of agricultural activities. Among which is the Odeda Farm Institute set up by the then Western region government. The Institute was turned into hub of agricultural practice in the old Western region. It was established for the training of youths and retiring civil servants in various agricultural area of interest ranging from farming, poultry, piggery and other agricultural management areas. In 2003, the Ogun State government in her determination to get the jobless youth out of the street and strike hard at the cancer of unemployment that was threatening to wipe out the future set up the Ogun State Employment Generation Programme (OGEGEP). The youth were offer a three months training programming in either agriculture or non agriculture trades and set successful graduands up in one form of business or another. The Ogun State government is spending a total sum of N90m on unemployed graduates annually. OGEGEP has since year 2002 been employing the unemployed graduates into its unemployed Graduates schemes (OGUGRADS) with a monthly stipend of N7000 (Thisday online 16/11/04). The efforts of the state government is to provide means of livelihood to able but idle army of unemployed youths in the state and give assurance to the private sector through the services of the youths. It was against this background that this study was designed to examine the economic impact of unemployed graduate youths training in agricultural activities in Ogun State. Specifically, it investigated the socio-economic characteristics of youths participating in Ogun State unemployed graduate scheme, assess the empowerment acquired by the unemployed graduate youths through the agricultural skills learned, ascertain the relationship between the selected socio-economic characteristics and the level of participation of youth in the agricultural training programme and identify the problems encountered by the youths participating in the scheme. MATERIAL AND METHODS

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The study was conducted in Ogun State. Ogun State is entirely in the tropics, located in the Southwest Zone of Nigeria with a total land area of 16,409.26 square kilometers. It is bounded on the west by the Benin Republic, on the south by Lagos state and the Atlantic ocean, on the East by Ondo State, and on the North by Oyo and Osun state. It is situated between latitude 6.2oN and 7.8oN and longitude 3.0oE and 5.0oE.The climate of Ogun State follows a tropical pattern with the raining season starting about March and ending in November, followed by dry season. The mean annual rainfall varies to 128cm in the southern part of the state to 105cm in the Northern areas. The average monthly temperature ranges from 23oC in July to 32oC in February. The Northern part of the state is mainly of derived savannah vegetation while the central part falls in the rain forest belt. The southern part of the state has mangrove swamp. The geographical land scope of the state comprises extensive fertile soil suitable for agriculture, and savannah land in the north western part of the state, suitable for cattle rearing. There are also vast forest reserves, rivers, lagoons, rocks, mineral deposits and an ocean front The state is blessed with a conducive climate that supports cultivation of a variety of crops such as yam, cassava, maize, rice, plantain, beans, vegetables and citrus fruits such as orange, paw-paw, pineapple and so on. The main cash crops produced in the state are cocoa, cashew, kola nut, oil palm and palm kernels, rubber and coffee. The State has 30 local government areas, with an estimated population of about 3.2 million in 1998. Odeda Farm Institute at Owode Local Government Area was purposively selected. This is the training center of agricultural component of Ogun State Employment Generation Scheme that catered for the interest of youths empowerment in agricultural skills. A random sampling of 300 youths under the Ogun State Unemployed graduate Scheme participating in various agricultural activities of the Institutes were selected and analyzed for this study. Pre-tested and validated structured interview was used to elicit information from the unemployed graduate youths participating in the agricultural training program of the scheme. Also, unstructured interviews were conducted to probe into some of the issues that were not addressed during the administration of the structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The simple descriptive statistics involves the use of frequency, percentages and tabular presentation of the data were used to analyze the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, skill acquired, personal agricultural activities, problems and constraints
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encountered in the training while the inferential statistics (Pearsons Correlation Matrix) was used to determine the relationship between the selected socioeconomic characteristics of the youths and the level of the participation in agricultural training. Research Hypotheses: HO1: That there is no significant relationship between the selected socio-economic characteristics of youths and the level of participation of youths in agricultural training. HO2: That there is no significant relationship between the youths participation in agricultural training and career aspiration in farming. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1 shows the summary of selected socioeconomic characteristics of the youths participating in the agricultural training programme.of OGEGEP. Results shows that 62% of the youths participating in the training programme are within the age 21 30 years and 34% are within the age 31 40 years. This indicates that most of the participants are young graduates who are in their productive years to sustained agricultural developments in the state. 58% of the youths participants are female while 42% are male. This shows that male respondents who are physically stronger than the females seem to have less favourably disposed toward participating in the programme. 60% of the youths participating in the programme are single while 40% are married. The result gives an indication that majority of the youths are not yet married because they are young graduates who has not been gainfully employed while those who have married participated in the programme in order to sustain their households. The educational status of the participants reveals that all the youths participating in the scheme are graduates of higher institutions which were the purpose for the creation of the scheme to facilitate employment and create jobs to unemployed graduates through training and skill acquisitions. Table 2 reveals the benefit of the agricultural training programme to the youths. It was shown that 70% of the youths participating in the agricultural training of OGEGEP are motivated to participate in the training in order to gain employment after the training programme. 20% of the respondents were in the programme to be self employed after the training and 10% of the youths are in the programme because they have interest in agriculture. This shows that the purpose of participating in the agricultural training programme of OGEGEP by the unemployed graduate youths was not to make a career aspiration in farming rather their prime purpose was to seek for employment in either public or private institution and use the training programme as a learning process while

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continue searching for jobs. As shown from table 2 above, all the participants in the training programme at Odeda farm Institute have acquired one form of agricultural activities or the other. 44% of the youth participants acquired crop production skills, 32% acquired animal fattening skills and 24% acquired poultry production skills. The result shows that the programme was successful in achieving the leading priority for its establishment which is to impact skills and knowledge unto the unemployed graduates so that they can be self sustained and contribute positively to agricultural development of Ogun State. This result corroborated the findings by Ibrahim and Sabo (2007) who reported that skills were acquired by youths as a result of joining association activities in agriculture in Adamawa State and that 72% of the beneficiaries transferred those skills to engaged in personal agricultural activities. This assertion was also supported by Fasina and Okunola, [10] who reported that all 120 youths sampled in their study on impact of agricultural programme in food production in Ondo State learned various agricultural skills and 68.3% of them extended those technologies to their farms. It could be observed from table 2 that 58% of the youths participating in agricultural training engaged in personal agricultural activities during the training programme while 42% of the youths were not engaged in any personal agricultural activities mainly because they dont have the means of financing their own farm. Also the youths who engaged in personal agricultural activities transferred (i.e. crop production, poultry etc) the technologies learned during training to their personal farms. The result from table 2 also shows that 28% of the youths who have personal farm earned between N41, 000 N60, 000 per annum while the remaining 30% earned between N61, 000 N80, 000 per annum. The economic implication of this is that if these youths can have access to adequate credit, there would be an increase in the scale of agricultural activities in the State. The data from table 2 reveals the sources of personal farm finance of the youths in agricultural training. 20% of the youth secured their finance from personal saving, 20% from friend and relations, 28% from cooperative society. None received any finance from banks and Government assisted loan scheme. However, the youths who are participating under the scheme (OGEGEP) received stipends of N7, 000 per month from the Government. Only very few of them saved from this stipend to engage in personal agricultural activities as revealed during the personal discussion. 42% that constituted No Response are those that are not engage in personal farming because they do not have access to credit. Table 3 reveals that the unemployed graduate youths participating in the agricultural training
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programme of OGEGEP held divergent views about the programme. 82% of the youths, said the programme was a good initiative by Ogun State Government as it helps in alleviating the suffering of the unemployed graduates. Also, 6% of the unemployed graduate youths participants were of the opinion that the programme should be improved upon. Table 3 also reveals the problems encountered by the youths during the training programme. Lack of adequate training agricultural facilities constitutes the highest (44%). 26% claimed that there were no sufficient instructors and 24% of the respondents faced transportation and accommodation problems during the training programme. From the above table, the constraints to self employment of the youths after the training programme shows that financial constraints are the major and dominant factor that constitutes a threat to self employment. The study reveals that 90% of the youths were financially handicapped to engage in personal agricultural activities. Correlation Analysis: Pearson correlation(r) analysis was used to establish the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics of unemployed graduate youths and their level of participation in agricultural training programme of OGEGEP. Table 4 shows the relationship between socio economic characteristics of youths and their level of participation in agricultural training programme of Ogun State employment generation scheme in the study area. From the results, age correlates negatively with sex. The implication of this relationship is that sex has some effects on unemployed graduate youths participation in the agricultural training programme. Male respondents who have the drive and energy to earn a living through agriculture than their female counterpart were less favourably disposed towards participation in the programme. Age of respondents affect their level of involvement in the training programme. This indicates that younger youths graduates are likely to participate in the agricultural training programme that the older unemployed graduate. This implies that the energetic younger youths would involve themselves in higher task to earn a living than the older youth. This finding supports Angba et al., (2009) and Ekong [9]. Marital status correlates positively and significantly with age. This implies that marital status and age have some influence on unemployed graduate youths participation in agricultural training programme. The older and married unemployed graduates will prefer less strenuous job than the farm work to sustain their living. The implication of this is that the young unemployed graduates that are single will be more

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willing to make a living in agriculture to sustain them through participation in the programme. Aside the monthly stipend of N7000 which they are using to meet part of their living expenses, the prospect of gaining employment after the training programme will motivate them further to participate in the programme. Education level correlates positively and significantly with age. This implies that attainment of higher level of education will influence the level of participation of youths in agricultural training. Fasina and Okunola[11] reported a similar positive relationship between education and level of participation of youths in a study of impacts of youths agricultural programme on food production in Ondo State of Nigeria. Onweagba (1990) in a study found that education was linked to attitude towards participation. Similarly, Ekong [9] reported that age is more often used as a tenable criterion for some social status than education. Onu (1990) also reported the importance of education among rural development agents. Marital status correlates positively and significantly with education level. This findings shows that marital status and education level of unemployed graduates are determinant for their participation in agricultural training programme. Thus the singled unemployed graduate will be more willing to participate in the programme than the married unemployed graduate. Income correlates positively and significantly with age. The implication of the relationship is that the young unemployed graduates will be more influenced to work assiduously to make more income in agricultural activities, thus influenced their level of participation in the agricultural training programme. This indicates that the higher the income to be earned from agricultural activities, the greater would be level of involvement of unemployed graduates in the scheme. Education level correlates positively and significantly with income, implying that the higher the level of education attained, the greater will be the level of involvement in the agricultural training programme to earned more income. This means that as the level of income increases, so also the level of participation will increase. It is pertinent to note that career aspiration in agriculture was not statistically significant with level of involvement in agricultural training. This indicates that the participation of the unemployed graduate youths in the agricultural training of the scheme has no significant relationship with the career aspiration of the youth in farming. This implies that many of the graduates participating in the programme were into it because they could not secured job as a result of the prevailing economic hardship in the country. This assertion was supported by Torimiro and Oluborode [30] who reported that over 77% of the farm youth confessed that they were not originally aspired to go
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[12]

into farming business, Gbadamosi and Akindele-Oscar established that external influence, extrinsic reward, self expression and people oriented value play equal role in influencing the choice of agriculture as a career. Conclussion and Recommendation: Based on the result of the study, the following conclusions are drawn. The youths participating in Ogun State Employment Generation Programme are graduates of higher institution of learning. Participation in the programme was motivated by the need to be gainfully employed after the completion of the training programme. Also, the participating unemployed graduates were able to acquired different agricultural skills like crop production, animal fattening, poultry production which they transferred to their personal agricultural activities. The unemployed graduate youths were able to secure a living through agricultural training programme of OGEGEP and thus become useful to themselves and the state at large. The correlation analysis revealed that some relationship exist significantly between socio-economic characteristics such as Age, marital status, sex, education, income and the level of participation of unemployed graduate youths in the agricultural training programme. Also, the study revealed that there is no significant relationship between participation in agricultural training programme and career aspiration of youths in farming hence the involvement of the unemployed graduate youths in the agricultural training programme is to cushion the effect of harsh economic situation prevailing in the Country on their livelihood while still searching to secure public or private employment at the end of the programme. The following were therefore recommended: C The government should intensify effort to increase the coverage of the target area to all local government areas in the state. Each local government should have its own skill acquisition centre The monthly stipend of N7, 000 per month should be increase to N20, 000. This would afford the unemployed youths participating in the programme to save part of the money to start their personal farm.

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Table 1: Summary of Selected Socio-Economic Characteristics of Respondents Variable Frequency Percentage Age < 20 12 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 - 30 186 62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31 40 102 34 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Gender Female 174 58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Male 126 42 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Marital Status Single 180 60 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Married 120 40 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Education level No formal Education ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Primary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Secondary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NCE 150 50 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HND 90 30 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------B.sc 60 20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Source: Field survey, 2009 Table 2: Benefits of the training programme Career Aspiration Gain employment 210 70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Self employed 60 20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Interest in agriculture 30 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Skill Acquired Crop production 132 44 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Animal fattening 96 32 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Poultry production 72 24 Personal Farm Yes 174 58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No 126 42 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Income realized 41,000 60,000 84 28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------61,000 80,000 90 30 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Above 80,000 -

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Table 2: Continue No response 126 42 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Source of Personal Farm Finance Personal saving 30 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Friends & Relations 60 20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cooperative society 84 28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bank ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No response 126 42 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Source: Field survey, 2009 Table 3: Perceptions, Problems and Constraints of the Training Programme Variables Frequency Percentage Youths perception Good iniative 246 82 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Misplaced priority 12 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It was not well funded 6 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There is need for improvement 36 12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Problems Not properly trained 18 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Inadequate training facilities 132 44 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Insufficient training instructors 78 26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Accommodation & transportation 72 24 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Constraints to self employment Financial constraint 270 90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Land constraint 30 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Others ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 300 100 Source: Field survey, 2009 Table 4: Correlation matrix of relationship between socio economic characteristics of youths and their level of participation in agricultural training programme of Ogun State Employment Generation Scheme (OGEGEP) Sex Age Marital Status Education Career aspiration Income Sex 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Age -.203 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Marital Status -.215 .682** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.653** .632** 1 Education -.285* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Career aspiration -.194 .024 -.053 .121 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.238 .333* .063 1 I Income -.036 .341* * Coefficient significant at 0.05 level (2 tailed) ** Coefficient significant at 0.01 level (2 tailed)

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The programme (OGEGEP) as it presently constituted is focused on unemployed graduate of higher institutions of learning, this should be extended to other young school leavers in the secondary school so that they can benefit from the skills acquisition of the programme and be self employed. Credit facilities should be made available by both government and non-governmental agencies to unemployed graduate youths participating in the scheme at lowest possible interest rate. This would entice them to pursue a career in farming rather than continue searching for white collar jobs which is not available. The State should seek more private sector partnership in the programme so as to secure the future of the unemployed youths participating in the programme after completion of the training Other states of the federation should endeavour to follow the footsteps of Ogun State Government by identified with the large army of unemployed youths in the communities and give them hope in future by establishing skill acquisition and development centre for their training and empowerment in various agricultural activities and other vocational skills. REFERENCES

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