Agricultural Aspiration of Rural Youth

The present study was carried out on the aspirations of rural youth engaged in agriculture farming. The study was undertaken in six taluks of Yavatmal and Nagpur district of Vidarbha in Maharashtra state during 2020-21, to analyze the aspirations of rural youth towards agriculture. The data were collected from a sample selected by random sampling methods 150 rural youth from (Pusad, Umarkhed and Mahagaon taluks) Yavatmal district and other 150 rural youth from (Nagpur, Ramtek and Savner talukas) Nagpur district by using a pre-tested interview schedule. Standardized scales were used to the assessment of the aspirations of rural youth towards agriculture in the study. In this study, the majority (56.33%) of them aspired to take up improved agriculture occupation, 47.00 per cent of them aspired to take up dairy/poultry enterprise, 32.33 per cent of them aspired to the establishment of the poly house as protected cultivation, 47.00 per cent of them aspired to avail a sprinkler/ drip irrigation facility, 43.67 per cent of them aspired to enhance their land holdings by 2-4 acres, enhance their income by 50-75 per cent (42.33%), 37.33 per cent of them aspired to enhance their credit access by up to 33.00 per cent, 52.33 per cent of them aspired to acquire additional knowledge on crop production aspect, 41.00 per cent aspired to provide education to their children up to primary/middle school level education at the village level, and 56.33 per cent aspired to use KVKs /Agriculture Department/Agriculture University for having sources of information regarding market information/intelligence. The overall result was that more than half (58.66%) of the rural youth were involved in agriculture had a medium level of aspirations followed by a equal percentage of rural youth (20.67%) in each low and high levels of aspirations.