Engaging youth at school to advance sustainable agriculture and inspire future farming: evidence from Cambodia

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to examine rural school students’ perception of a career in farming following their participation in educational farming activities.

Design/Methodology/Approach:

We hypothesized that engagement with innovative educational farming activities can influence young people’s aspirations for a career in farming and that this relationship is mediated by relatedness to the local environment, and agriculture’s perceived impact. A survey instrument was administered, and mediation was examined using path analysis.

Findings:

Significant direct and indirect effects were observed indicating that engagement with educational agricultural activities significantly influences students’ relatedness to their local environment, and their perceptions toward agriculture’s impact on their local community, which in turn has a positive effect on their attitudes toward a career in farming.

Theoretical Implication:

The results of this study point to the generalizability of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) across contexts and provide empirical support for its suitability in analyzing different approaches to attract and retain youth in the agriculture sector in Cambodia.

Practical Implication:

The results highlight the benefits of providing contextually-appropriate educational programs that are designed to reframe agriculture as innovative, profitable, and interesting to encourage youth to consider a future career in the sector.

Originality/Value:

The findings can guide future training agendas and agricultural educational programs to be more efficient in attracting and retaining youth in the sector by incorporating contextually-appropriate educational topics that highlight agriculture’s impact and strengthen youth relatedness to their local environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural education
• sustainable agriculture
• youth
• innovation
• Social Cognitive Career Theory
• path analysis

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Cambodia’s public school system provides 12 years of education. Most children enter Grade 1 at 6 years of age (MOEYS 2007), though enrollment, especially in rural areas, depends on many factors including whether and when children are needed for labor and other household demands (Kato, Idei, and Morikawa 2019). Students are able to re-enroll in school after a prolonged absence (Millar and Nicseybon 2021), thereby creating a wide range of ages at the secondary level.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by United States Agency for International Development Bureau for Resilience and Food Security/Center for Agriculture-led Growth: [grant number AID-OAA-L-14-00006].

Notes on contributors

Ghaida S. Alrawashdeh

Ghaida S. Alrawashdeh is a doctoral researcher in Global Studies in Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the use of educational technology to support learning and teaching in resource-challenged contexts. Other research interests include innovation, entrepreneurship, development and sustainability.

Samantha Lindgren

Samantha A. Lindgren is an assistant professor of sustainability education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the role that youth-oriented sustainability education plays in supporting and advancing sustainable household energy and agricultural practices in resource-limited settings.

Manuel Reyes

Dr. Manuel Reyes is a Research Professor at Kansas State University.

Sar Pisey

Ms. Sar Pisey is program officer of the Center of Excellence on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Nutrition.