Participation of School Drop out Teenage Rural Youth in Selected Agricultural Activities

The aim of the study was to determine the participation of school drop out teenage rural youth in selected agricultural activities. The study further explored the relationship between the selected characteristics of the respondent and their participation. The locale of the study was two villages of Trisal upazila under Mymensingh district. To measure participation in selected agricultural activities, Participation Index (PAI) was computed to determine the rank order of 46 participation items. The PAI could range from 0 to 400. The Participation Index (PAI) of 46 items related to agricultural activities indicated that indices of two items were above 300 in rank order which were ‘harvesting of field crops (309)’ and ‘storing of crops (301)’; 3 items were above 200 namely ‘weeding of field crops (252)’, ‘seedbed preparation of field crops (223)’ and ‘seed sowing of field crops (204)’. The first twenty activities in rank order were mostly related with crop and few livestock activities. The overall participation of school drop out teenage rural youth in selected agricultural activities revealed that largest proportion (69%) had low participation. Out of 10, 8 independent variables namely age, education, agricultural knowledge, physical health, participation in activities during leisure time, family income, assets owned by parents and participation mindedness for non-farm activities had significant positive relationships while length of drop out was negatively correlated with the participation of school dropout teenage rural youth in selected agricultural activities.