Harnessing the potentials of youth for rural household food security in Nigeria

Abstract

The food security question calls for participatory approach by the major stakeholders in the rural household in agriculture Youth are veritable assets in the household because of their dynamism, adventure, ambition and innovativeness. These potentials could be harnessed for rural household food security. This paper discusses the place of the Nigerian youth and how his potentials could be functionally and maximally utilised for food security of the rural household. The policy recommendations included the re-definition of the household to incorporate the three major stakeholders namely adult male, adult female and the youth, building partnership between the youth and rural development agencies, institutional and organizational reforms, provision of infra-structural facilities in the rural areas and re-orientation campaign to re-position the status of agriculture for meaningful youth identification. Keywords: youth, rural household, food security, Nigeria Animal Production Research Advances Vol. 1(2) 2005: 104-110