Factors influencing the involvement in non-agricultural income generating activities of rural youth: A case study in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India

Many rural youth are faced with difficulty of maintaining livelihoods and consequently, poverty remains pervasive among them. The importance of income generating activities to rural livelihood cannot be over-emphasized. The paper examined the involvement of rural youth in non-agricultural income generating activities as well as factors influencing their involvement in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Multi stage random sampling was used to collect data from 247 respondents. Respondents participated in number of non-agricultural income generating activities with petty trade being the most common. Majority of respondents were married, educated up to high school had low achievement motivation and medium economic motivation. There were significant influences of socio-economic and psychological characteristics of respondents on their involvement in non-agricultural income generating activities (R²=0.582). Marital status (t=4.284), family occupation (t=3.668), respondents’ education (t=-4.705), employment status (t=3.607), rural life preference (t=3.102), achievement motivation (t=5.853), economic motivation (t=5.358), fatalism-scienticism (t=-5.197), mass media exposure (t=6.998) and extension contact (t=-4.698) were predictors of involvement in non-agricultural income generating activities engaged by rural youth at 1 percent significant level while 1/3 of the total accountable variation was explained by achievement motivation. Governmental and non- governmental organizations should take all income generating activities engaged in by rural youth as well as the identified factors influencing them into consideration when initiating and embarking on programmes targeted at improving their livelihoods.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jur.v2i1-2.7851

J. Univ. Ruhuna 2014 2:24-32