@article{Gutu:246925,
      recid = {246925},
      author = {Gutu, Tekalign},
      title = {Are rural youth disengaging from agriculture? Empirical  evidence from Ethiopia},
      address = {2016-09},
      number = {310-2016-5350},
      pages = {24},
      year = {2016},
      abstract = {This study investigates the trends, patterns and prospects  of youth involvement in agriculture in Ethiopia, by gender.  It also analyses the determinants of youth labor supply in  agriculture using household and youth sample survey data  collected during 2010/11 and 2014/15 main agricultural  seasons in Oromia, one of the designated high agricultural  potential area of Ethiopia. Labor supply is measured as the  total annual working days (in adult equivalent) of male and  female youth members of the household allocated to on-farm  and off-farm work. Based on this data the marginal products  (shadow wages) of youth workers of each gender and net  income (shadow income) are estimated, using a structural  time-allocation models. Then the estimated shadow wages and  shadow income are used as regressors in a structural model  of youth labor supply. The results indicate that trends and  patterns of youth involvement in agriculture vary across  gender and work locations, and so do their marginal  products. Whilst the on-farm participation of youth is  declining across time irrespective of gender, the  participation in off-farm agricultural activities is  increasing for both. There is statistically no significant  decrease in the total agricultural labor supply of both  male and female youths. Further, we find that the effect of  own shadow wage on labor supply is positive for male youth  members, suggesting an upward sloping labor supply.  However, the effect of own marginal product of female youth  labor is negative, suggesting that female youth  agricultural labor supply is backward bending. The findings  challenge the presumption that youth are abandoning  agriculture, at least in the survey areas. Policy  implications of the results would be that changes in  economic incentives such as shadow wages and shadow income  matter for youth involvement in agriculture and off-farm  agricultural employment opportunities could help to reduce  youth underemployment.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/246925},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.246925},
}