Practices, Challenges and Opportunities of rural youths participation in agriculture extension services Case of AdeaBerga Woreda, West shoa Zone, Oromia regional state, Ethiopia.

Abstract

The most important of conducting this thesis was to identify practices, challenges and opportunities of rural youth’s participations in Agriculture extension services in kebele levels as well as to examine what opportunities were there in agriculture for mass youths in their respective kebeles. In addition to this, the most significant of conducting this thesis was predominately to find out challenges of rural youths participations in agriculture extension services in order to provide food security and employ opportunities for youths in Kalo ,sireBerga and kito kebeles . Though youth have desirable qualities that can promote agriculture extension services and to provide employ opportunities in it in their kebeles, most of them have strong apathy toward it. Most of the kebeles’ youths were not interested in agriculture because of there were lack of credit facilities, limited startup CapitaLand poor faming technology. The study further revealed that most of the youths were migrate to the urban areas to search for job, employ in industries to work with, good social amenities and access to loans and enjoy high standard of living in the urban areas. Data for this study were collected from Kalo, Sire Berga and Kito kebeles’ of Adea Berga district through questionnaires, focus group discussion, interviews and self-observations. The Study put down that majority of the youths 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 minority of rural youths who were participated in AES inKalo, Sire Berga and Kito kebeles were provided with their socioeconomic needs and employ opportunities through their participation in agriculture. These were including food, education, income generating opportunities and health services. Furthermore ,Federal and state governments in Ethiopia as well as at lowest levels in kebeles have not adopted capacity building on agriculture to reduce youth unemployment, restiveness and re-awake agriculture potentials. In short, the study critically identified that due to less attention was given by agriculture stake holders of the study kebelesto the roles of youth’s participation in providing agriculture extension services unemployed opportunities of youths, food insecurity and ineffective agriculture productivities were becoming a headache to the society of the study kebeles for several year