Youth motivations to study agriculture in tertiary institutions

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Against the backdrop of a worldwide decline in entry into agricultural courses, we investigate the factors that motivate young people to continue studying (and not to drop out from) agricultural courses in tertiary institutions.

Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was used. Questionnaire data were collected from 967 students within four universities in Southwest Nigeria. Motivation was measured using a 5-point Likert scale, designed with insights from the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Principal-Axis factoring.

Findings: All four extrinsic motivational types, as espoused in the SDT, were identified as factors, of which Identified regulation had the strongest influence. Among the identified regulation items, acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, opportunity to learn about innovations, and self-employment prospects after graduation were the strongest drivers.

Practical implications: The findings stress the importance of making agricultural courses more business-focused, with hands-on skills on agri-innovations and agri-entrepreneurship. It also indicates the influence of socio-environmental context on youth behaviours. Policies needs to be more holistic and systematic in to support agri-entrepreneurship development and self-employment opportunities for agri-graduates.

Theoretical implications: Youth motivation to study agricultural courses in tertiary institutions has not been adequately researched and theorized, especially in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) context. Our study indicates that SDT provides a useful lens to examine this issue.

Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind in the SSA context. It not only contributes to the agricultural education literature, but also to the wider education literature through the application of the SDT theory in a new field.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural education
• youth
• motivation
• self-determination theory
• tertiary institution
• Nigeria

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Grace Inegbedion has more than five years of post-graduate experience, with the last four years in the non-profit development sector. She obtained a Master’s degree from Nottingham Trent University, the UK in Global Food Security and Development under the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme where she graduated top of her class. In the last three years Grace has worked as a Research Support Staff, RSS in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA a nonprofit international research institute working towards eradicating hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa. Grace is particularly interested in agriculture, especially in the areas of global food security and how sustainable agriculture and agriculture innovations can work towards achieving zero hunger through skilled workforce for the agriculture sector.

Dr Mofakkarul Md. Islam is a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in the UK. He has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, and developmental activities in the broad areas of sustainable agriculture and food security, both in developed and developing country contexts. Dr. Islam has obtained a PhD degree from Massey University New Zealand and has worked for Bangladesh Agricultural University, Open University UK, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), and Nottingham Trent University. Dr. Islam has been involved in a range of international development projects funded by the DFID, World Bank, JSPS, and industry. Dr. Islam is the programme leader for the MSc/ MRes in Global Food Security & Development courses at NTU.

Notes

1 In this study the terms ‘course’ and ‘programme’ are used interchangeably, although we recognise that they may have different interpretations in different countries.

2 http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html