Analysis of Youth Participation in Irrigation Farming for Enhancing Food Security in Adamawa State, Nigeria

This research work analysed the Youth participation in irrigation farming for enhancing food security in Adamawa State, Nigeria. It focused on the following specific goals, to: determine the socio-economic features of youth involved in irrigation farming in the study area;analyse the factors influencing youth involved in irrigation farming in the study area; and identify the challenges face by youth in participating in irrigation farming for enhancing food security in Adamawa state, Nigeria. Purposive and simple random sample approaches were adopted in selecting the respondents Via questionnaire in the four Agricultural zones of Adamawa state. The findings of the study revealed that over 56% of the respondents were between the age of 27 and 29 with over 60% of youth attaining formal education and more than 78% being married. The poor knowledge of irrigation, socio-cultural factors, disease outbreak and experience were significant at 1% level of significance and were found to be the major factors affecting the youth participation in irrigation farming. Similarly, inadequate access to financial services especially credit, high cost of inputs, were the major challenges faced by Youth participation in irrigation farming while difficulties in accessing market was the least in the study area. Based on the findings the study recommends strong linked between financial institutions, cooperatives and youth participating in irrigation farming to facilitate their access to credit, agricultural inputs and improved management strategies.

Food security, Irrigation farming, Nigeria, Youth, Socio-economic

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