Attitudes of school-going and unemployed youth towards agriculture as a profession in the Eastern Cape of South Africa

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to the economic growth in South Africa and plays an important role in the socio-economic development of South Africa, particularly in rural regions like the Eastern Cape, however the decline in interest among youth to participate in agriculture threatens the future of agriculture in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies that the government can use to encourage school-going and unemployed youth to consider the agricultural sector in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as a potential career. The specific objectives of the study were to identify the attitudes of school-going and unemployed youth in the Eastern Cape, addressing the barriers that youth face when entering agriculture and develop strategies that can be used to encourage youth entry to pursue agriculture as a profession. A sample of 100 respondents was selected using a simple random sampling technique to allow different groups of unemployed youth and school going respondents to participate in this study and it helped to gather different attitudes and interests in the agricultural profession. The study used quantitative method to understand the behaviour and attitudes of the respondents. Furthermore, the study identified issues that influence the attitudes of school-going and unemployed youth respondents, barriers to entry in agricultural practice for youth were also identified and possible recommendations to encourage public policy to encourage youth participation in agriculture were developed. Descriptive statistics methods such as percentages and frequencies were adopted and used to summarise the data in an understanding way, while describing the difference between the variables of these two groups. Likert scale data was analysed and presented in tables. Open-ended responses were read through to identify similar themes and insights, noted down and thematic codes were formed to categorise and perform data analysis for open-ended responses. Diverging stacked graphs were used to compare Likert scale results and check the difference between the two groups. Descriptive statistics results revealed that majority of respondents were females in both groups. The Likert scale results revealed that school-going and unemployed respondents have differences and similarities regarding the issues that influence their attitudes towards agriculture. The diverging charts revealed that issues such as agricultural businesses taking longer to generate profit with risks and limited awareness and educational programmes about agriculture have a negative influence on both school-going and unemployed youth. The study further revealed that parent’s involvement in choosing careers for their children has no negative influence on school-going and unemployed youth 5 attitudes. These charts further revealed that the attention required by agribusiness and its limitation to urban contact had no negative influence on school-going learners while unemployed youth attitudes were negatively influenced by it. The findings revealed that the issue of long, complicated land transfers is not a barrier that prevents youth participation in agriculture while unemployed youth believed that it prevents youth engagement in agriculture. In addition, the findings revealed that school-going and unemployed youth believed that rising inputs costs, exclusion of youth to financial assistance prevent youth entry into agricultural practices. The findings of this study contribute important information to policymakers, educators, and agricultural stakeholder in understanding the issues that influence youth participation in agriculture in Eastern Cape. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that public policy should include and promote more employment for educated youth in most departments of the sector, encouraging them to participate in agribusiness activities. Public policy should encourage more partnerships with the private sector for rural projects, rebranding agriculture into modern business and introduce digital technologies to attract youth to the sector. Public policy should avail state land for rentals to young people interested in utilising the land for short term period, targeting rural areas with skills development programs and establish more institutions for public funding that will fund agricultural research, conducting experiments that will assist in developing strategies to improve farming and protect produce from natural disasters. Ultimately, the study seeks to inform possible recommendations that will not only benefit the youth but contribute to the sustainable development of the agricultural sector in the Eastern Cape. Keywords- Attitudes, Barriers, School-going learners, Unemployed youth, Policy recommendations.