Factors Influencing Intention to Work in Agriculture in Syria – The case of Latakia

B.Sc. IBRAHIM SALMAN, MBA

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The shift in career from agriculture jobs to other sectors among young generation, even among agriculturally educated students presents a challenge to rural labour markets and contributes to labour shortage in agricultural sector in Syria. This study addresses the factors influencing intention to work in agriculture among agricultural students, based on data from Latakia region, Syria. A quantitative questionnaire survey was conducted in 2019. A convenience sampling method was applied to select the respondents from Tishreen University, Faculty of Agriculture. The sample consists of 150 respondents. The results of the binary logistic regression model revealed that five independents variables made a statistically significant contribution to the model (father’s occupation, contentment to the rural way of living, farming experience, parents’ opinion on agricultural job, and friends’ influence on studying agriculture). The strongest predictor of increasing the probability of intention to work in agriculture was farming experience before entering the university. Father’s occupation as a farmer increases the probability of intention to work in agriculture. Positive parents’ opinion on agricultural job, friends’ influence on studying agriculture, and contentment to the rural way of living decrease the probability of intention to work in agriculture. Our results have implication: support of practical stages in agriculture before starting to study agriculture could help to increase the rate of the agricultural students who want to work in agriculture.

Keywords

Youth, Latakia, Intention to work in agriculture, Agricultural labour

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 15. 5. 2020

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: doc. Ing. Miroslava Bavorová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / odbor:
Tropical Agriculture / International Development and Agricultural Economics