YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHALLENGES OF AGRICULTURE: AN OVERVIEW OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' FARM PRACTICE PROGRAMME IN NIGERIA

Young people who have the strength required to take up agriculture shy-away from the work, leaving it to an ageing and dying population of old farmers, the continuation of this will force us to wonder what the fate of agriculture would be in Nigeria. Agricultural development specialists and policymakers around the world are concerned with the fact that young people are not interested in agriculture, as agriculture is very crucial to the current economic status of Nigeria. A sample of 384 respondents from the population was drawn using multistage sampling method and 40 in-depth interviews. Five research questions were raised in the study and two hypotheses were generated and tested (at 0.05 level of significance) using the chisquare inferential statistical method. Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire; the research design was a descriptive survey. While the theories used for this research are the social exchange and rational choice theory. The major finding of the research showed there is no significant relationship between the sociodemographic characteristics of young people and their level of involvement in farm practice, while there was a significant relationship between the benefits attached to farm practice and the level of students' involvement.