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COMPENDIUM, IEEC-2023   ( ISBN : 978-81-967860-4-5 )
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Theme-4: Advances in Social Management in Agriculture and Allied Sciences

Factors contributing towards youth engagement in agropreneurship among higher education students in Malaysia

Nurul Ary Syafiqah Latif and Nur Bahiah Mohamed Haris

Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia (UPM), 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
nurbahiah@upm.edu.my

Abstract

The transformation of the agriculture sector which has been established by the Malaysian government should not be overlooked by the young people to play their roles in developing the agricultural sector. The contribution of youth has been emphasized in the National Agro-food Policy 2021- 2030 (DAN 2.0) to attract youth interest in agriculture. Hence, this study discusses the factors contributing towards youth in agropreneurship among higher education students in Malaysia. From the literature search, several factors might contribute to the intention of youth in agropreneurship, such as knowledge, attitude, support and social networking. Hence, this study involved higher education from five universities in Malaysia, particularly undertaking agriculture courses during their study. The sample respondents were focused on (1) Youth whose ages are between 18 to 40 years old, and (2) students in cohort 2021/2022 who were actively enrolled in agriculture-related programs, and were expected to have the ability to answer the questions. The results indicated that knowledge is an important factor that influences youth to venture into the field of agropreneurship. Therefore, an effort to promote the agriculture sector with this will give a desire and motivation to the youth in order to participate in agribusiness and to become an agropreneur. Government and development agencies should also focus on social networks, such as political influences and youth engagement in the exchange of knowledge and services through social media, in order to encourage agropreneurship among youth.

IEEC-2023 at RARI (SKNAU, Jobner), Jaipur, Rajasthan organised by Society of Extension Education, Agra, India