Impact of Agribusiness Programme on Welfare of Cassava-Based Youth Farmers in Oyo State: Evidence from National Fadama III Programme

Agribusiness has in recent times received increasing attention from the development partners owing to its potential for increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reduction of unemployment particularly among the youth. In Nigeria, the rate of youth’s unemployment is one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Extensive studies have been conducted on benefits, perceptions, challenges as well as determinants of youth participation in agribusiness programmes. However, little is known about the impact of the Agribusiness programme on the welfare of the youth. This study contributes to the literature estimating the impact of Agribusiness programme on welfare of the youth in Oyo State. Using primary data collected from 200 youth consisting of participants and non-participants in Fadama III Agribusiness programme and evaluation technique of Propensity Score Matching (PSM), the study found that majority (74.1%) of the respondents were male, educated (82.8), had moderately sized (56.9) households and average age of 32 years. The size of farm holding, membership of cooperative societies, access to credit and use of improved seed increased the likelihood of youth’s participation in Agribusiness programme. The Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) shows that youth’s participation in the Agribusiness programme had significant positive impact on youth’s welfare by N27,144.08. Therefore, leveraging on agribusiness intervention is a policy option for reducing unemployment and by extension poverty among the youth.