Intentions of Young Farmers Club (YFC) Members to Pursue Career Preparation in Agriculture: The Case of Uganda

Abstract

The decline of youth engagement in agriculture worldwide amidst an increasing global population remains a big challenge to ensuring food security for future generations. This phenomenon is worsened by the shortage of professional female agriculturists, though they comprise about 60% to 80% of the traditional workforce in the agriculture sector of most developing countries (Beintema & Di Marcantonio, 2009). This descriptive study had 102 participants who were members of Young Farmers Clubs (YFCs) from two secondary schools in eastern Uganda. The study’s purpose was to determine the perceptions of members of YFCs on their intent to pursue agriculture-related career preparation after graduating from secondary school, including indications of familial support for preparatory experiences. The findings indicate that a large majority (95.1%) of the students was likely or highly likely to continue with their education at the post-secondary level. A high percentage (70.6%) was likely or highly likely to pursue agriculture-related career preparation; however, significant differences existed between the sexes. Female club members were less certain than their male peers about pursuing higher education involving the study of agriculture. Additional research should be conducted on how to attract more females to study agriculture at the tertiary level, especially in developing countries.