SKILLS REQUIRED BY YOUTHS FOR EMPLOYMENT IN GREEN JOBS IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR FOR SELF-RELIANCE IN KOGI STATE

Abstract

Youth unemployment in Kogi state has led to negative effects such as underdevelopment and increased crime rate. It became imperative to find solutions to the issue of youth unemployment in the state. Green jobs have helped in reducing youth unemployment in other locations although the skills need to be ascertained before it is adopted as a tool for employment in the state. Hence, the study sought to identify the skills required by youths for employment in green jobs for self-reliance in Kogi State. Two research questions were posed to guide the study while two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted survey research design. It was carried out in Kogi State. The population for the study was 204 made up of 163 lecturers and 41 extension agents. Due to the manageable size of the population, the entire population were involved in the study. Structured questionnaire was employed as instrument for data collection. The instrument was face validated by five experts. Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained for the instrument. Data was collected by the researcher with the help of four research assistants. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for answering the research questions and t-test for testing the hypotheses. Based on the data analyzed, the study identified nine skills in agritourism and ten skills in agrometeorology. The study recommended among others that; the Ministry of labour should provide funding to encourage researchers to ascertain the best ways of inculcating skills needed for employment in agritourism to enable youths get employed and enhance self-reliance; and policy makers have to enact policies/laws that would lead to the increase in the number of green jobs in the agricultural sector that youths can get employed in.