Involvement of farm youth in cocoa plantation resources management practices in Ondo State, Nigeria: a factor analysis

The study identified the factors associated with farm youth’s involvement in Cocoa Plantation Resources Management Practices (CPRMPs) in Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a total of two hundred and four respondents for the study. The data were collected using a structured interview schedule and analysed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that the average age of the respondents was 33.67 ± 6.50 years and that most (76.0 %) of the respondents were male. The CPRMPs respondents were involved and were categorised into soil, water, cocoa beans, cocoa tree, cocoa seedlings, and financial management practices. The majority (76.0 %) of the respondents were moderately involved in the CPRMPs in the study area. The factors associated with farm youth involvement in CPRMPs were economic pull (λ = 2.208), economic push (λ = 1.962), personal (λ = 1.785) and community-related (λ = 0.927) factors. The factors identified explained 83.314 % of the variance in farm youth’s involvement in CPRMPs. The study, therefore, recommends that there is a need to organise training on CPRMPs to farm youth to be able to optimise the potentials inherent in them for improving their livelihood.