Factors Influencing Youth Participation in Agropastoralism in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands: A Case of Mandera County, Kenya

Abstract

Whereas Mandera County government, the National Government, and other development partners have invested heavily in youth employment, food provision, and poverty reduction through, the county's youth are still hesitant to be involved in it. Even though it has been shown to be beneficial in the arid and semi-arid regions, little research has been done on the reasons why young people avoid it despite the fact that they are unable to find work in other fields. The aim of this study was to assess the factors that influence young people's involvement in Mandera County. The objectives were to find out how youth involvement in Kenya's Mandera County was influenced by insecurity in the region, technological factors, access to loans, cultural norms, and youth perceptions of the rewards they would expect from the business. The study was anchored on Push and Pull theory and the Integrative Threat Theory. The study adopted a combination of descriptive research design and explanatory research design. The target population consisted of 2900 youth from 145 registered youth organizations in Mandera County. Sloven's formula was used to sample 351 youth from the general population, and the sample proportions of young people in the sub-counties were calculated using the proportionate to size formula. The questionnaire's validity was tested during piloting in the neighboring county of Wajir, and before the real study, reliability was assessed using a Cronbach alpha coefficient. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 25 was used to analyze the data after it was gathered using the drop-and-pick questionnaire approach. The results were presented using descriptive and inferential statistics. To draw conclusions, the findings were presented in a variety of ways including frequencies, percentages, tables, pie charts, and bar graphs. Model significance was assessed using F-tests and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 95%, confidence interval. Multiple correlation helped to determine the nature and strength of factors that influenced youth participation in the findings indicated that the null hypothesis for insecurity was rejected because the regression coefficient was significant and negative (β=-0.454, P=0.000), and the null hypothesis for credit access was also rejected because the regression coefficient was significant and positive (β=0.51, P=0.000). The findings for technological factors revealed a positive and significant coefficient (β=0.365, P=0.000), youth perception on anticipated gains from the practice revealed a positive and significant coefficient (β=0.551, P=0.000), and cultural factors revealed a positive and significant coefficient (β=0.603, P=0.000) meaning all had an effect on youth participation in hence rejection of the null hypotheses. The study concluded that insecurity, access to credit, technological factors, attitude of the youth and cultural factors influenced youth participation in the study recommends that the county government and the national government dialogue on how to improve on security in Mandera County in order to encourage youth participation in. Furthermore, financial institutions would be persuaded to ease the process of credit access and allow many types of collateral when giving credit facilities geared towards. There is need for awareness on benefits of for youth through educational forums, workshops and sensitizations campaigns. Finally, both young men and women should be sensitized on technological factors to help them practice that align to the climatic conditions in Mandera like drought resistant crops and livestock