This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
Why Youth Shun Agriculture ¶
When I was a young boy growing up in rural Kenya, farm work was punishment. However, my experiences changed along the way, and I am not who I was today.
Many developing countries have 'orphaned' agriculture and allied courses, with students choosing them with lower qualifying grades. The media has also contributed to the negative perception of agriculture, portraying emaciated farm families, unpaid farmers, and devastating post-harvest management.
Despite the potential of agriculture to create employment, the steadily increasing youth population in Africa has been turning away from it. The youth consider agricultural jobs painstaking and unrewarding, requiring a lot of patience that millennials lack.
Can Digitisation Bridge the Divide? ¶
The average age of an African farmer is between 45 and 60 years, but they are not immune to the technology revolution. Digital innovations and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) will prove essential to unlocking Africa's agri-business and bridge the rural divide.
ICT will provide efficient agribusiness logistics and link producers and final consumers almost instantaneously. Emerging Agriculture Technology (AgTech) start-ups have demonstrated this, attracting youth to provide best practices, agricultural networking, and linking to finance.
Financial Access to Youth ¶
Financial Service Providers (FSPs) continue to shy away from financing youth, terming them risky. However, research indicates that young people in rural areas save two to five times as much as their elders, and these savings were four to five times the amount they borrowed from different sources.
Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)'s financial diaries and national surveys with smallholder households highlight that youth can and should be involved in transforming agriculture.
Case Studies of Youth Engagement in Agriculture ¶
MSC helped Musoni Microfinance, Kenya, to review its agriculture finance product and introduce digital credit assessment for clients. Musoni's agricultural finance product—Kilimo Booster—is a success in targeting youth engaged in agricultural production.
In Tanzania, the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) provided a USD 540,000 grant to SELF Microfinance Fund (SELF) to develop digitally delivered products for smallholder farmers. MSC helped the Mahanje SACCO located in the Ruvuma region to review its loan products to suit the needs of targeted rural clients.
The convenience and privacy of transactions created by digitisation attracted about 300 new clients, which represents a 14% growth rate in the 18-month project period alone. Out of these, 120 (40%) were aged between 18 and 25 years.
Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agricultural Activities ¶
Digital technology and digital financial services have the potential to bring youth closer to the agricultural sector. The players in the ecosystem focused on promoting agriculture need to deliberately create an attractive and enabling environment for youth through sustainable market linkages, integrating various actors and activities across value chains, and adopting digital platforms that offer social services.
