Determinants of Youths’ Participation in Rice Cultivation in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

This study examines the potential, challenges and prospect of youth participation in rice cultivation in Bayelsa state. Rice production is one of the fastest growing agricultural sub-sectors, and rice has moved from being a ceremonial to a staple food and one with high commercial viability. Rice cultivation is not generic to all ecological regions and is generally labour intensive and, thus, requiring several manual operations and techniques to accomplish. This study examines the potential of youths’ participation, as a vast corpus of untapped resources, in rice cultivation. The research adopts a case study design and focuses on Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The study combines primary and secondary methods of data collection to gather data from a sample size drawn combining purposive and random sampling techniques. Four local governments areas were purposively selected, i.e. Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa, with one community drawn from each, i.e. Otuokpoti, Ofoni, Ondowari and Asagbene, respectively. With fifteen (15) respondents, farmers and youths, drawn from each community, the study uses a sample size of sixty (60) respondents. Data collected will be presented quantitatively where feasible, transcribed where necessary, and descriptively analysed. The study is expected to provide an empirical basis for harnessing the potential of the vast army of youth in the state in the cultivation of a crop that is both important for domestic consumption and high commercial viability, while simultaneously mitigating youth restiveness in Niger Delta.