Aly Oumar Mohamed Sy used to almost dread the idea of making a living from farming. But “now that I’ve learned how to take care of the soil and cultivate it, I consider farming as my life's work,” says the 24-year-old from Mauritania’s Trarza region. What’s made the difference is an initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which gives young people a chance to learn practical farming skills to improve their prospects in the labour market.

Some 40 percent of Mauritania’s population falls between the ages of 15 and 35 years old and among them, almost the same proportion are neither employed, studying nor in training. The FAO project, Building resilience in the Sahel region through job creation for youth, is developing youth’s skills as well as tackling this lack of employment opportunities and poor labour conditions, which lead many into a vicious circle of poverty.

A key objective of the project, funded by the German Food and Agriculture Ministry, has been to provide practical and theoretical learning on production of rice and vegetable crops. But the young people were also trained in setting up interest groups and cooperatives in order to be able to apply for land access programs and develop their own agribusinesses.

“We learn from our trainers and coaches new techniques but also traditional ones, the ones shared by our ancestors,” Sy says. Young people like him are undoubtedly best placed to rejuvenate the agriculture sector and build more sustainable structures by which food is produced, distributed and consumed.

That’s because youth more easily acquire the knowledge and skills needed to innovate. They are also more adept at making use of new technologies and spearheading digital transformation.