The propensity of rural youth to take rain-fed smallholder farming as their livelihood strategy in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) : a multinomial logit analysis

Abstract

With most unemployed youth residing in rural areas of South Africa, incentivising youth participation in smallholder farming can help address the increasing youth unemployment crisis. The study integrated the theory of planned behavior and the sustainable livelihood framework to investigate the factors influencing rural youth participation in smallholder rain‐fed farming activities. The data were collected from 224 rural youth in Dannhauser and Nquthu local municipalities, uMzinyathi District, KwaZulu‐Natal Province. Principal components analysis was employed to compute the different dimensions of positive psychological capital. The dimensions are then used as independent variables in the Multinomial Logit model. The findings revealed that endowment with positive psychological capital, dependency ratio, farming experience, engagement of other household member (s) in farming, access to agricultural training, access to land, and agricultural cooperative membership positively affect the propensity of rural youth to take rainfed smallholder farming as their livelihood strategy. The youth currently farming are doing so out of necessity, not out of interest. The circumstances force them to farm. In the long‐term, enhancing the profitability of small‐scale agriculture is the best mechanism to attract the youth.