Abstract
The study was conducted to examine the determinants of agriculture participation among tertiary institutions youth in Ghana. The study first, examined what factors influences youth decision to participate in agriculture activities and second, the intensity of participation of those youths who are participating in agriculture. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select respondents for the study. Data collected were analyzed with the aid of descriptive and double hurdle model (DHM). Though farming comes with a lot of benefits to a nation but the result of this study reveals that majority of the youth, 315 compared to their counterparts 135, decided not to engage in farming. The findings of this research also discovered that, youth perception of farm input price, youth level of education, access to credit, access land and youth course of study at the tertiary institution, gender composition of the youth, and youth perception of farm income significantly affect decision and the intensity to engage in farming. Furthermore, insufficient capital, high cost of farm input, poor storage facility, farmers are not respected, poor income generating and inadequate credit facility are some of the constraints of youth participation in farming. Key words: Ghana, youth, farming, double-hurdle model, participation.  
Highlights
Agriculture is important to the development of any nation, Ghana being no exception (Department for Environment, 2015; Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2006)
An average amount of GH¢1246.67±708.88 was revealed to be the amount of capital spent on the farm by the respondents. This is an indication that tertiary institution youth intensity of participation in agriculture activities are not encouraging
The results showed that the coefficients of perceived price of farm input, access to credit, access to land, education, youth courses of study, gender of the youth and youth perception on income were found to be significant at the various levels of significance (p < 0.05, p < 0.01)
Summary
Agriculture is important to the development of any nation, Ghana being no exception (Department for Environment, 2015; Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2006). The international development community has recognized that agriculture is an engine of growth and poverty reduction in countries where it is the main occupation of the poor (The World Bank, 2008). Young people are very important resource required for every nation‟s development especially for sustainability in agricultural production (Ahaibwe et al, 2013). Agricultural sector in many developing countries is underperforming. This is because youth, who represent a crucial resource in agriculture and the rural economy through their roles as farmers, labourers and entrepreneurs, almost everywhere, has developed a sort of perception to agriculture (White, 2012; Leavy and Hossain, 2014).
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