Agriculture,
the backbone of Africa’s economy, is threatened by an ageing production population
as young people turn away from farming, often thought to be difficult, time
consuming, risky and not very profitable.
In
Ghana for instance, majority of farmers are interested in empowering their
children to take up professions other than farming as their future economic activity.
“No
farmer is expecting the child to land on the farm because we don’t make agric a
very good profession for it to be very attractive to the farmers themselves to
be able to introduce their children into the practice,” observed Emmanuel
Arthur, Managing Director of Kuapa Kokoo Company Limited, a farmers’ cooperative.
According
to him, there is the urgent need to reflect on agricultural policies to
ascertain business ideals and attractiveness to the youth, otherwise “we’ll get
to a point that we’ll not be able to produce the food we eat, the cash crop
that we export and the country could be in serious crises”.
Majority
of the people engaged in agriculture are believed to be over 50 years old,
hence calls for Africa to think critically about how to attract the youth to
replace the aging farming population.
Suggestions
include the integration of agriculture into school curricula, easy access to
land, capital, technical knowledge and equipment for successful ventures.
Dr. Samuel Kojo Dapaah, a Special Advisor to
Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, believes the youth should be better
off so long as their concerns with agricultural mechanization, transportation,
water and other basic amenities are provided.
However,
there is growing advocacy to rather encourage the youth to get higher up in the
agricultural value chain.
Some African researchers involved in the GDN Global Research
Project, ‘Supporting Policy Research to
Inform Agricultural Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia’, have strongly pointed to the need to shift from actual production
at the farm house to value addition ventures for the youth.
At a recent workshop to present five policy briefing
papers to help shape debates on
agricultural policies in sub-Saharan
Africa,
Prof. Chris Ackello-Ogutu at the University of Nairobi, stated that young
people would be more interested in value addition than actual production.
He
said whilst it is important for the youth to change their mindset and attitude
towards agriculture, they should be pushed to the value chains.
“We
need to push for policies and strategies that can engage the youth in value
addition higher up in the value chain and there are opportunities for that;
providing extension services at the lower level and investing in processing and
packaging and in public relations in the provision of market information”,
stated Prof. Ackello-Ogutu.
Other
opportunities for the youth in agriculture have been identified in food retail,
catering, input supply and research – but these jobs generally require higher
levels of education and different skills.
The
2012 international conference on “Young People, Farming and Food” debated
research findings and policy options for youth engagement in agriculture.
It
was observed that the agrifood sector in Africa, in the coming years, will
undergo significant transformation that will result in both challenges and opportunities
for young people.
Experts
at the forum noted that policy interest in linking young people to agriculture should
not ignore important drivers, trends and developments that are impacting on
both young people’s aspirations and the structure of the agrifood sector.
Prof.
Saa Dittoh, Head of Food Nutrition and Security at the University of
Development Studies, Tamale says the marketing component of the agricultural value
chain should be promoted.
According to the GDN policy paper on ‘Long-term
Challenges to Food Security and Rural Livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa’, Africa’s urban populations and incomes are growing and
with that will come greater demand for marketed food.
“The
youth are becoming very innovative, so looking at the value chain and where
they can fit in and not necessarily just on the farm but find out what they can
do with the produce, is going to be very important”, observed Prof. Dittoh.
In
November 2012, hundreds of public and private sector players in agriculture
will be participating in an international conference on agricultural value
chains in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Though the event has no specific
focus on youth, youth employment may be touched on by the session
being organized by International Labour Organization (ILO).
Senior
Technical Advisor for Market-Led Development at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural
Cooperation (CTA), Andrew
W. Shepherd is uncertain “how policies could drive people
into value chains as value chains depend, primarily, on satisfying consumer
demand, but as demand increases for processed and semi-processed products there
will be more employment opportunities”.
As
the experts meet to develop a greater understanding of the factors necessary
for value chains to thrive, it is expected that young people in Africa would share
in the knowledge and experiences to venture the agricultural value chain for
gainful employment and contribute to food security.
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