Youth Engagement in Agricultural Activities: Status and Prospects for Tanzania Agricultural Sector Development

This paper presents the findings of the study about youth engagement in agricultural activities in Tanzania: It highlights the status and prospects for Tanzania’s Agricultural Sector Development. The study was conducted in Makambako Town Council, Njombe region in Tanzania. Specifically, the study sought to: identify socioeconomic characteristics influencing youth involvement in agricultural activities in the study area, identify the potential agricultural activities and other incomegenerating activities affecting youth livelihood in the study area, examine the contribution of the identified activities in addressing their needs, determine the level of their involvement in agricultural activities and identify factors influencing their engagement in agricultural activities. The study employed a cross-sectional research design. A structured questionnaire was the main tool while information from Key Informants and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) complement the quantitatively generated information. Quantitative data analysis was aided by computer software known as the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to yield some statistics like frequencies and percentages which were later interpreted to conclude the assumptions. The content analysis technique used to analyze qualitative data. The findings revealed that youth perceived agriculture as their first-rate occupation and that majority said they see a lot of prospects as they engage with agriculture, both on and off the farm. The study recommends that intervention strategies for improving youth engagement in agricultural activities should revolve around sufficiently attracting innovative public investment in supportive rural public goods and services to farmers, including making agriculture a national priority promote it as a decent and productive employment.