PERCEPTION OF YOUTHS ON GOVERNMENT AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

The study assessed the perception of youths about Osun State Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programmes (OREAP) in Osun State, Nigeria with a view to examine the socio-economic characteristics of the participating youths and their perceptions towards OREAP. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 113 respondents. Interview schedule was used to collect data which were subjected to descriptive and inferential analysis to test the hypothesis. The results show that the mean age of the participants was 28.5 years with standard deviation of 4.3, about 62.8 percent were males with an average annual income of N166, 477.0K. Also, about 67.3 percent of the respondents indicated that the reason for participating in the programme was to be a well-trained farmer. Findings revealed that sources of information (chi(2)= 4.937, p <= 0.05), occupation (chi(2) = 7.224, p <= 0.01) were significantly associated to the perception of youths towards OREAP. Farm size (r=-0.367, P <= 0.01), capital expenses (r=-0.655, P <= 0.01) and income per annum (r= -0.310, P <= 0.05) were significantly but negative related to the perception of youth towards OREAP. It was concluded that the main factors that limit youth involvement in the programme are inadequate materials services and finance among others. The major factors influencing youth participation in OREAP are youth unemployment, youth interest in agriculture and information availability.