Abstract:
Though youth have desirable qualities that can promote agriculture, most of them have strong
apathy toward it. This has resulted in mass unemployment and lack of sustainable livelihood
among youth. With fewer youth into agriculture, the long term future of agriculture sector is in
question. The study aimed at finding out on the role played by agriculture to rural youth
socioeconomic needs, types of agricultural activities which are engaged by rural youth and the
factors which influence rural youth participation in agriculture. Data for this study were
collected from Kahe East Ward in Moshi district through questionnaires and interviews. Study
found that majority of the respondents were attracted to invest more in their own farms rather
than being employed as labour or involved in family farms. The findings of the study also
revealed that rural youth in Kahe are provided with their socioeconomic needs through their
participation in agriculture. These include food, education and health services. Furthermore,
the study found out that age, sex, marital status, education level, family background,
availability of rural credit facilities, land, agricultural knowledge, lack of job alternatives and
perceptions are important factors associated with rural youth’s participation in agricultural
activities.
