Over a ten-year period, we, together with colleagues, have used qualitative and quantitative analysis to explore the dominant narratives and ‘conventional wisdom’ about young people and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Throughout, we have sought to carefully consider the conceptualisations embedded in these narratives, their empirical foundations, and their implications for policy and intervention.

This research involved a number of different projects, methodologies, funders and partners. Field work took place in 22 sites across seven SSA countries (Ghana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire), with sites being selected in part to reflect differences in economic geography and intensity of agricultural commercialisation. Findings, conclusions and recommendations are set out in the edited volume Youth and the Rural Economy in Africa: Hard Work and Hazard (Sumberg, 2021) and a number of other publications (Sumberg et al., 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020; Ripoll et al., 2017; Yeboah et al., 2017, 2020; Sumberg and Hunt, 2019; Abay et al., 2020; Carreras et al., 2020; Glover and Sumberg, 2020; Crossouard et al., 2021b; Oosterom et al., 2022).

This perspectives paper draws heavily on the last chapter of Youth and the Rural Economy (Sumberg et al., 2021b). It synthesises findings and sets out their implications for policy relating to youth, agriculture and rural development. Overall, our research lends support to some elements of the standard stories around rural youth, while challenging others. However, even where we find broad support for dominant narratives, there is need for more nuance than is generally offered in shorthand treatments of ‘youth’ questions. We argue that this critical revisiting of the storytelling around youth in rural Africa has important implications for policy content and development interventions, particularly in relation to routes to social adulthood, food system transformation and food security.