ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES INTENTION TO TAKE UP SELF- EMPLOYMENT IN AGRIBUSINESS

Abstract

The success of Ghana’s drive to modernize agriculture cannot be realized without harnessing the quality human resource base of the youth, especially graduates from agricultural faculties. This paper therefore examined factors influencing agricultural students of the University for Development Studies (UDS) Intention to take up agribusiness as an avenue for future self-employment. Data for this paper was obtained from a field survey of 292 final year students of the University. A descriptive and Chi-square statistics were used to analyse the data obtained. Results of the analysis found students’ perception regarding the prospects of agribusiness enterprises in Ghana to have a statistical significant influence at both 1% and 5% levels of significance on students’ intention to take up agribusiness as a future self-employment avenue. Also age, marital status, place of domicile, parental educational background of students, practical agricultural experience and risks tolerance were found to have significant influence on students’ intention to take up agribusiness as a source of future self-employment avenue or not. It is recommended that tertiary students pursuing agriculture and agricultural related programmes should be exposed to practical training in agriculture and be properly oriented on the prospects of agriculture as an avenue for self- employment upon graduation.