Socio-Economic Determinants of Youth Empowerment By Fadama Iii Project In Delta State, Nigeria: Implications For Agricultural Transformation (Published)
This study was conducted in Delta State. It assessed the contributions of Fadama III empowerment activities toward youth development. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of the participants, ascertain the participation level of youths in the project, examine the determinants of youth empowerment by Fadama III, and identify the issues militating against youth empowerment in Fadama III. The multistage sampling procedure was used to gather data from 105 youths. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used to analyze collected data. The socio-economic characteristics result showed that youths from 28 – 32 years were highest (41.9%) in the project. Most of the youths (78.1%) involved in Fadama III were males, high proportion (55.2%) of the youths were married, 61.9% possessed secondary education and 88.6% cultivated less than an hectare. The level of youths participation was moderate (x ̅ = 2.53). The major constraints militating against the youth participation in Fadama III were poor capital base (x ̅ = 3.34), inefficient training session (x ̅ = 3.30), poor project finance (x ̅ = 3.29) and poor communication ideas in farming technology (x ̅ = 3.26). The regression result (R2 = 0.840) showed that the determinants of youth empowerment by Fadama III were sex which was significant at 1% level while marital status and educational level were inversely proportional to youth empowerment at 1% and 5% level of probability respectively. The study concluded that marriage and high educational status reduce the tendency of active involvement in Fadama III agricultural activities. It was recommended that training should be given to the married and educated youths.
Keywords: Determinants, Fadama III, Socio-Economic, Youth Empowerment
AGRICULTURAL COMMERCIALISATION, CONTRACT FARMING AND TOBACCO: A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF TOBACCO CULTIVATION ON EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN RURAL SIRISIA, BUNGOMA WEST DISTRICT, KENYA, 1975-2005 (Published)
Commercial production of tobacco in Kenya has been going on for about a century and since its introduction, its production and use have been issues of great controversy.Tobacco production in Kenya has created a class of growers that have long been ignored by historians. A growing number of scholarly works available on the theme have basically been of scientific and agronomical nature. In a wider context, a lot of literature on social relations on the recent agrarian intensification in Africa does exist, though lack of systematic studies on the relationship between tobacco production and socio-economic impact as well as employment on tobacco farms still remains a yawning gap in the historiography of Kenya. This paper is a focus on a historical examination of tobacco growing peasantry and its impact on employment trends in Sirisia, Bungoma West District of Kenya following concerted efforts by the British American Tobacco Kenya Limited (BAT) to commercialise agricultural production. The study used observation method and interviews in data collection. Archival and documentary sources were also used for secondary data. This study serves a purpose of informing key stakeholders in the government and non-government sectors about the relevant policies to improve rural livelihood in Sirisia and other tobacco producing areas. The study demonstrates the view that the peasant sector occupies a central role in African economic development.
Keywords: Commercial, Development, Employment Trends, Peasantry, Socio-Economic, Tobacco Cultivation, history