Three Big Questions Before Engaging Youth in Agriculture Transformation Agenda
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Pupils harvest kales from their 4-H project,Mbagathi Primary School. Photo by Jamila Abass |
First,
understand what Africa’s transformation really means for prosperity and
sustainability. Whereas statistics from the AfDB show that agriculture is the
second largest industrial sector in Africa projected to grow by 6% p.a. by 2030,
an important question is yet to be addressed: Is this growth or extraction? Is this a factor of prosperity or
it’s just a new phenomenon of growth following the old path of extraction and
scramble for African natural resources? Are African agricultural policies
structuring this growth to ensure that it is first beneficial to African
economies before exporting nutrients from the African soil to the rest of the
world?
Second,
speaking to those outside the agriculture sector if we really want to achieve
inclusive transformation, therefore asking: Which sectors complement and/or compete with growth of the agricultural
sector? While the agriculture sector is growing, other sectors such as
construction and transport are growing even faster meaning there is need for
diversification and complementarity. This growth must also be understood in the
context of increasing food imports into Africa even as claims are made of
African agricultural growth. How can we reverse food imports while sustaining
agricultural growth?
Third,
view agricultural growth in the context of inclusive transformation and
therefore ask: Is our agricultural
growth a magnifier of inequality? It is important that countries position
themselves so that this moment of agricultural growth is also a moment to fix
the structures of socio-economic inequality that already exist and result in
inclusive transformation. Does our current trend of agricultural growth
addresses issues of poverty alleviation and improving the livelihoods of those
at the bottom of the pyramid and the marginalized? In a particular context of
women and youth, it will be fundamentally crucial to apply the concept of intersectionality
that allows us to appreciate women and youth contribution within a large
context of rapid transformations on the continent. For instance, we already
know that closing the gender gap would increase agricultural productivity by
30%, and particularly would attract more young women.
In
the light of these three issues, where do we then see the opening and closing
of youth opportunities in agriculture? Such opportunities have to be
contextualized in the ongoing changes such as the growing Africa-China trade,
the expansion of free trade areas in Africa, urbanization and the growing
middle class, technological advancements in Africa as well as opportunities
provided by democratization in Africa. Importantly, all actors must be willing to
recognize and invest in capturing the responsibility,
alertness, imagination, and willingness of young people to take action.
A
study
on expanding business opportunities for young people in agriculture by USIU
found that young people are three times more likely to be unemployed. The same
study, however, also found out that, when young people are provided with a set
of activities, resources and mentoring, they change their behaviour towards
becoming entrepreneurial and may even engage in other agriculture-related activities
such as research and policy. In fact, women when supported emerge more
resilience than men do, and young people are more likely to use their personal
savings and borrow from family to start a business.
Our
understanding of youth aspirations offers us new insights over the claim that
young people are sitting down waiting for things to be done for them. This idea
of passive waithood is far from truth as many researchers have shown. In fact, they exhibit a desire to emulate others who are making it
in life. However, such testimonials and mentors are few in the agriculture
sector, leaving most youth to imagine agriculture as an uncool venture, and the
outsiders to understand young people as uninterested in agriculture.
Therefore,
we have to rethink this ‘uncool’ nature of agriculture. Fundamentally, what would we get by unpacking
the ‘uncoolness’ and stigmatization of agriculture?
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