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Lack of money, land and tech deter young African farmers

      

Youth taking up agriculture “essential” to continent’s Covid-19 recovery, report claims

A lack of access to land, finance and easy-to-use agricultural technologies are among the barriers preventing African youth from taking up farming careers, a report has found.

The 12 August report draws on a survey of 30,000 youth, 300 smallholder farmers and 110 agriculture-focused organisations evenly spread across 11 African countries* to gauge farming attitudes and problems.

It says agriculture needs to become an important career for African under-25s, who account for around 60 per cent of the continent’s population. Barriers outlined by the report need to be overcome in order to secure the continent’s food future, and to supply youth with jobs—especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, it says.

“Youth engagement in agriculture will be essential to recovering from the economic impacts of the pandemic, both to rejuvenate the continent’s agri-food system and develop economic opportunities for young Africans,” said Nigeria-based Adesuwa Ifedi, senior vice president for Africa programmes at Heifer International, a non-profit agricultural assistance organisation based in the United States, which backed the study.

The study found that African youth view a lack of funding, poor access to land and a lack of training as the three biggest barriers to getting into farming. While agricultural technology has the potential to attract more youth to the sector, only 23 per cent of the youth engaged in agriculture who responded to the survey said they used some form of agricultural technology.

Survey results from smallholder farmers and agriculture-focused organisations suggested that low literacy, poverty and a lack of farming extension services were to blame for the low adoption of technology among farmers. Farmers cited affordability and ease of use of technology as key factors in adoption.

Views varied between countries on the best ways of supporting youth to take up agriculture. Funding was selected as the most important form of support by 52 per cent of Nigerian respondents, while only 28 per cent of Tanzanians agreed. Support in accessing land was viewed as most important by 17 per cent of Zimbabweans, but only 3 per cent of Nigerians and 6 per cent of Ugandans.

Heifer International said the report will inform its investments in Africa, including its invite-only AYuTe initiative, which will invest up to US$1.5 million in agritech businesses run by Aricans this year.

*The countries included in the survey were Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.