Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Hello everyone, kindly check the attachment as promised earlier on regarding 15 to 17.

 

The youth can be source of problems to their own survival when they fail to harness their potential resources together. Typical example is trust, confidence and unity among themselves. In a setting where production factors (land, water, climate) and government support work in favour of the youth it is only the youth’s attitude and ability to grab the opportunities would salvage them from bad policy, political polarization and misrepresentation in development programs mostly designed for them. Youth input through advocacy for program planning, execution and monitoring is vital to ensuring maximum benefit.

In a situation where government is providing strategic support and creating opportunities for the youth, time and accuracy of implementation of the target program often becomes a means to its conclusive end. General elections cut short political administrations while running good youth program which if the gestation period is not reached in time the required impact would never materialize. Accuracy of program implementation is dependent on community specifics and to lesser extent local environment from start to finish which makes it highly critical in accessing youth chances for improved agro-based livelihoods in the rural areas.

More details in the attached case study on Empowerment for youth-driven commodity chain development (EYDCCD) program

Thank you.

Ideally, rural youths between 15-17 years have just completed their secondary education (Form 4). Some enroll for high school education, while others consider apprenticeships or colleges of career choice. 

However, because of poverty and lack of entitlements, the majority are caught up at that level. They have not reached the majority age (18 years) and are considered as minors and this determines their ultimate choices.

An understanding of place is one way to inform the design of effective interventions for the 15-17 age group. Rural areas can be places of problem (challenges of health,, education and food security etc), privilege (opportunities of recreation and renewal) and possibility. The challenge is how to transform rural areas from places of problem to possibility (Budge, 2006).

Rural-urban migration has historically absorbed the excess population of the countryside, as pressure for farming land worsens-leaving rural areas depopulated- and few employed in agriculture, fisheries and forestry. The impact of climate change on the already vulnerable 15-17 age group threatens to significantly reduce their opportunities.

The discourse of green jobs has overtaken the development agenda- with hopes for widespread development and poverty reduction, creation of new and more vibrant economies based on clean technologies and securing an increasingly greener world.

One obvious gap is how can the vulnerable 15-17 age group can be considered as key players in the green economy:

• How best can we narrow the green jobs and technical training/vocational gap?
• What is the role of formal/informal institutions in providing the relevant career choices or support in a green economy?
• How can we raise awareness of the changes happening 15-17 age group locales (their spaces) and elsewhere and how prepared and equipped are they for these changes?
• How can local policies be made inclusive to the 15-17 age group in a green economy?

Potential interventions/best practices could address technical knowledge in green technologies, facilitating existing entrepreneurial cultures, opportunities for financing and demonstration and deployment of new technologies. Balancing new technologies with local knowledge is key to the success of the green economy/jobs.

In the words of one farmer who has practical experience in the farming industry "My generation started with a solid foundation of knowledge and work ethic learned from our parents who learned the food and feed production skills from their parents. They sent us to school to learn new ideas and make new connections while we worked with them on the land and then it was our turn to take what we had learned and began the process of trying to improve - sometimes failing but ever moving forward"

My name is Adams Peter Eloyi; National Programme Director Youth Programme on Agriculture and Entrepreneurship Development [YPAED Cooperative Society] and a Mentor to the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).

My experience on the specific challenges young people faced in rural communities in Nigeria are as follows.

1. Marginalization from Government Employment initiative.

2. Corruption in the implemention of Government policies and programme on rural youth employment.

3. Lack of Access and awareness of information on Government Employment programmes.

4. Lack of capacity and training opportunities on decent work.

5. Lack of Access to market.

6. Lack of quality input.

HOW TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGES;

1. Increasing transparency in the implementation of youth employment programmes.

2. Enforce rural youth participation and merit based recruitment.

3. Participatory approach in the design and implementation of youth employment.

4. Increase awareness in rural communities on youth employment in Agriculture and decent work.

5. Introduce anti corruption and monitoring and evaluation measures on youth employment.

6. Improve access to finance and market for rural youth.

7. Establish vocational training centers in rural communities.

8. Publicity and wide dissemination on government policies and programmes in rural communities.

9. Lack of Data on rural youth;conduct annual needs assessment of rural youth.

OUR ORGANIZATION MOST BINDING CAPACITY CHALLENGE.

1. Institutional capacity development in Monitoring and Evaluation.

2. Infrastructure development.

WHY WE ARE CONCERNED.

1. The rising rural youth unemployment is affecting food security and socio economic development of Nigeria. Therefore our concern to compliment the effort of government and the international community to bridging the gap and access of information and education of rural youth in descent work.

In Kano State, northern Nigeria, rural youth of the 15-17 age range seriously face agriculture-related problems with profound negative consequences on their livelihood.

Suppression

The Youth suffer minority maltreatment particularly regarding active participation in the activities of producer associations/cooperatives. They are considered naïve. This suppressive attitude is mainly coming from dominant elders within the farmers groups many of whom are close relatives to the youth as typified in rural setting. By tradition, local producer association or cooperative societies are heterogeneous comprising age groups, size of farm holding and type of farm operation (crop, livestock, irrigation, fishery, processing etc). This suggests the youth considered here are resourceful in terms of production factors (land and water). Some of the youth exhibit great potentials for good leadership roles while others are undergoing training in computer-based entrepreneurship for self improvement. Possible solution to youth suppression in producer groups is to identify and regroup youth that exhibit high potentials for intensive training in decentralized agribusiness development. Every local government area of the state should have at least an apex youth producer association (AYPASS) that is highly empowered in leadership, financial and agric-venture management in rural setting.

Blocked opportunity

Practicing youth farmers are clearly blocked from accessing agricultural programs designed to benefit and uplift their agric entrepreneurship status. Blocking youth opportunity is practiced by unruly officials as well as highly placed politicians in the corridors of power. Suitable upcoming youth practicing farmers are replaced by relatives and loyalists of the powers that be. Under this trend the affected youth are rendered frustrated, helpless and agriculturally incapacitated and left with no option than to increase the population of rural-urban migrants. Possible solution to blocking agribusiness opportunity for rural youth is to mobilize participants through AYPASS.

Lack of unity of purpose

This is a continuous hereditary problem that is been passed from old to new generation in rural areas. The rural farming communities do not have sense of unity for collective drive to tackle problems that bedeviled their farming occupation. This is worse during farm produce trading and farm inputs procurement as individuals preferred to do it alone and not in group thereby reducing their profit potential due to increased cost of transaction. The situation explains reasons behind collapse of several pilot intervention agricultural projects in the area. Without farmers operating in unison scaling up and replication of project successes within the focal point farming communities cannot be possible. Possible solution is to organize scaling and replication of successful intervention projects through AYPASS.

Mismanagement of group fund

Fundraising in producer organizations seizes to be successful simply because of leadership mismanagement of fund and the culprits normally get away with it unpunished. In fact, whistle blowers in the group end up taking the bashing that which the offenders ought to have received. The awful trend has seriously poisoned the minds of fresh upcoming youth in the system to the extend some of them believe that it is universally an accepted norm while it is not. The cumulative effect is lost of confidence and trust between members of the producer group and most unfortunate among the upcoming youth themselves. Possible solution is to build AYPASS on standard accounting practice together with provision of broad based connection to finance institutes for funding organizational and business programs.

Vanity

Another killing hereditary problem that is continuously passed to new generation youth is disregard to new knowledge that which concerns their traditional way of farming. Most valued items in life as upheld by rural farmers are land, livestock and traditional knowledge of farming passed from ancestors. An agricultural specialist who comes to assist them is gauged on this bigheaded belief and so there is a limit to penetrating their minds with new knowledge and skill brought to them. To break this problem there is need for continuous field demonstrations on commercial farm operations by AYPASS in the local government area. AYPASS can be supported with ICT devices for effective participation, coverage and outreach and AYPASS office complex can also serve as centre for Open Data exchange, digestion and dissemination for local use.

Girl youth of 15-17 age range

Traditionally girls of this age range are either under preparation for marriage soon or are considered approaching expiry time for marriage as it all depends on many social considerations. Major farm activities they engage upon include post harvest operations such as maize picking, cereal winnowing but certainly not crop management in the field. They are not accepted to participate in producer organizations even when the organization is exclusively for women because of their tender age and the family development role expected of them. Before the marriage and in many cases in post marriage, girl youth of 15-17 have active role in home-bound food business for selling to various outside customers. Examples include boiled/roasted maize, traditional snacks, roast peanut, boiled cassava, and cooked Moringa leaf, fresh vegetables, in front of the house, house to house or in schools, maternity clinics, ministries, Motor Park etc. Girl youth food hawking is a long tradition that can descend to great grand children in a family. Girl food business in food value chain consists of value addition; marketing and servicing that could be refined to benefit wider community members in the rural setting. Because it is a long time tradition with a market value and very important means of stable income to matrimonial women the girl food business has significant potentials to reduce household level poverty and increase self-reliance jobs if properly organized.

In an attempt to reduce the negative impact of these social and economic problems facing Kano state youth, the government introduced new program in 2011 tagged: Empowerment for Youth-Driven Commodity Chain Development (EYDCCD). The program started with camping youth (both gender) in various institutes for three months intensive training on different food commodities that are locally produced.

Case study on the government program will be posted soon.

Thank you.

Dear Sir

I am very happy to send my paper on Youth in Agriculture . I am from M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation ,India 

Attracting and Retaining youth in Agriculture (ARYA) (Creating enabling factors through Youth Cadre to achieve Agriculture productivity, Nutrition security and livelihood opportunities at door step).

Introduction

ARYA delivers solutions for sustainable agriculture and the enabling environment. This livelihood promotions program is based on training. It has interest to create young cadre who will be gaining hand on experience in farm mechanization and repairing, reduce fertilizers doses, organic practices and crop production with integrated pest and nutrient management, soil nutritional management and human health. This program has also aim to contribute our tangible to address climate change issues, zero hunger challenge and International year of Soil, which may help to produce enough to contribute towards food security and livelihood opportunity, required for the growing youth world population.

About the Program

The design program, package of practices, ICT tool and R&D unit will be part to attract and retain youth in sustainable agriculture. It will carry out livelihood opportunities as focus activities for the agriculture where soil and zero hunger challenge are two essential factors that need to be addressed urgently. The interest of youth need to be supported through new profitable agriculture applications and concepts, which provide solutions to the value chain and to end-users practices to adopt sustainable agriculture as livelihood option.

Another focus is to develop tools and services around the agri-products and business, farm mechanization and handling technological issues, value chain, communication, market strategy etc. which can be adopt as enablers to support the state and agriculture missions.

The theory cum practical training for a month will offer within real life agribusiness environment. Candidates will be guided during the training program about the key sectors and the ways to get engage with them.

Responsibilities of training

Develop modules and solutions for Livelihood and decision support systems for improved crop production, nutrition and farm mechanization in agriculture and horticulture

Working in a multidisciplinary team and give support to other agricultural research activities

Net-working with experts in MSSRF and Agriculture line departments and participate in co-operations with external partners state/National agencie.

Eligibility

The Year 2015 marks the beginning of mobilising science and integrated efforts by all nations to ensure that by the year 2025 no child, woman or man goes to bed hungry and that no one’s physical or mental potential is stunted by malnutrition. These were also the goals of the World Food Congress held in Rome in 1974 but they remain until today just desirable goals for over 800 million children, women and men who will go to bed hungry tonight. How then are we going to meet the Zero Hunger Challenge by 2025?

Hunger has three dimensions. First, a majority of the hungry suffer from under-nutrition, mainly due to inadequate purchasing power. Second, large numbers suffer from protein hunger due to insufficient consumption of pulses, egg, milk and other protein rich foods. Third, over 2 billion, many of them being pregnant women, suffer from hidden hunger caused by the deficiency in the diet of iron, zinc, iodine, Vitamin A, Vitamin B12 etc. The Zero Hunger Porgramme involves concurrent attention to all these three forms of hunger.

The extent of prevalence of hunger and malnutrition also depends on the availability of food at affordable prices, economic and social (particularly gender), access to food and absorption of the food in the body, which is a function of access to clean drinking water, sanitation and nutritional literacy. Thus, there is need to take a holistic view of the zero hunger challenge, taking into account both the food and non-food components of food availability, access and absorption.

The UN has identified the following five major components of the Action Plan for achieving the elimination of hunger

These are:

• 100% access to adequate food all year round
• Zero stunted children less than 2 years of age
• All food systems are sustainable
• 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income
• Zero loss or waste of food

All the above require intensive scientific research and support. For example, food availability needs research on the ever-green resolution methodology, so that increases in productivity can be achieved in perpetuity without associated ecological harm. Economic access will need a biovillage approach to rural development so that both on-farm income and market driven non-farm employment opportunities are maximised.

2016 has been designated as the International Year of Pulses. We should make a major effort to bridge the demand-supply gap in pulses, so that protein hunger can be addressed.

To overcome hidden hunger, we need a major effort in biofortification, so that agricultural remedies can be provided to the major nutritional maladies.

2015 marks the beginning of the UN Decade for Sustainable Development. Sustainable human wellbeing cannot be achieved without meeting the zero hunger challenge. Therefore, scientists should intensify their work in the areas of environmentally sound ever-green revolution, pulses production, bioforification and improved post-harvest management.  In addition, there is need to pay attention from the scientific angle to the issues related to the Swachh Bharat initiative of our Prime Minister. For its success Swachh Bharat will need intensification of research in the areas of bioremediation, biodiversity conservation, biomass utilisation and biohappiness

Candidates with 12th Pass / Fail or 10th Pass /Fail are eligible for this Course. Priority will be given to the candidates coming from Rural Areas and having direct hands-on experience in agriculture and related field.

Instruction language

Tamil  / English

Proposed Program

The proposed program will be taken in month of April/May for 30 days in house training. Each section of program has divided in theoretical and practical cum hands on training activities. The aim of proposed program to make youth eager to take a sustainable agriculture as a career opportunity within local environment perceptive, and then we will be happy to receive their application in English with mentioned details such as your possible starting date and expectations on proposed program. Suggested ideas coming by the participants will be included in the list or refine in the program.

Please apply via our application system: www.mssrf.org

Impact Evaluation Questions

The impact evaluation will be designed to answer the following questions:

Will this training lead to increases retention of youth in agriculture activities?

Will this training lead to the use of higher quality inputs, such as farm mechanization, seed banking, agrochemicals, organic application, value addition, market strategy etc?

Will this training change the value or provide source of soft loans that can be obtained as a livelihood options by the youth?

Will the training increase crop income and yields and create livelihood options?

Measuring Results of Program

MSSRF uses multiple sources to measure results. After each above tabular section the output data will be used during compact training workshop. Independent evaluations will be taken as post-compact. Monitoring data will be generated by the program implementers and specifically covers the formed group of youth who will be received training under the program. The program will also consider the youth adoption exercises precisely to monitor who have adopted with/without the training. MSSRF and Agri-department will invests in independent impact evaluations, which estimate a counterfactual to assess what will have happened in the absence of the investment.

Regards,

Dr.N.Parasuraman

There seems to be a disconnect between traditional education programming and livelihoods programming.  It is invaluable to teach youth technical skills (including TVET programming) & non-traditional education skills, because we ultimately want these youth to have sustainable livelihoods through employment.  Increased attention to vocational skills needs to be given to education curriculum development to increase the likelihood of youth providing sustainable livelihoods for themselves.  This includes climate-smart agriculture training, value chain and market analysis training, entrepreneurship and/or business management, as well as financial literacy.   

Education is said to be a mechanism to transform the intellectual capacity of man to better his lots and hence promote total development of his environment. Thus vocational education is visualized as a mechanism that ensures the human transformation through the utilization of the mind and hands for production of goods and services. Relating this to promoting agriculture in the rural youth especial those under the age of 18 stimulates the formulation and implementation of educational policies that entices the youth to engage in agriculture. That is those that break the barriers of rural-urban migration which is a phenomenon that has to do with lack of basic social amenities and employment opportunities in the rural areas.

To overcome this fundamental challenge, Agric must be given its utmost priority thus abiding by the signatories of international protocols which commits government to spending at 10% of the total budget to agribusiness. In doing so model social amenities should be provided in the communities with much processing factories establishment in these areas to tie these youth with employment thus keeping them in the communities. Again, scholarship and micro finance schemes should be considered to cater for intellectual good students and also those who show brilliance in micro agric businesses.

In all these, state recognition for dedicated youth in agric could also serve good for curbing problems of rural youth.

Policy framing and policy responses to the ‘problem’ of these young people and agriculture in Africa is hampered by a lack of theoretically and conceptually sound research and evidence that is contextually sensitive. Most national surveys do not explicitly separate those 15-17 but bundle them together in the 15-19 years age group in the adolescent bracket (for SRH projects). It is therefore important that analyses from agricultural surveys e.g. the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) tailor make some questions for this age bracket, for  targeted interventions. The interventions for this age bracket with regards to accessing decent work may vary geographically depending on the economic status of a country. For example, most rural youths aged 15-17 years in Malawi will have dropped out of school and entered into wedlock and had children, while in South Africa they would still be in school and getting a social grant if they (girls) had a child. While some have argued that agricultural transformation is the key to reducing poverty in sub Saharan Africa, some have argued that higher education levels have the greatest impact. In Malawi entrepreneurship in agro-products can provide career options for young people by unleashing their economic potential.

Christopher Manyamba

PhD Finalist: University of Pretoria, Institute for Food, Nutrition & Well Being. South Africa

For developing countries with high unemployment rates and low incomes, it is very important to keep young people in rural areas, a very challenging task to cope with. Wider opportunities for employment and higher salaries in urban areas drive rural to urban migration rates, leaving no youth involved in food production and creating food security issues.

This situation perfectly describes the case of Armenia, where young people do not want to be engaged in agriculture-related jobs, because they do not see high payoff possibilities in the agriculture. Armenian National Agriculture University had conducted a survey of graduates in 2015, and the result show that although about 60% of students come from the regions of the country, only 13 % of male and 9% of female students prefer to work in agriculture related fields (agribusiness, veterinary, agronomy). This tendency had already led to the situation, when for finding good agronomy specialists, greenhouse management has to contract European specialists or winemaking plants have to employ experts from Argentina or France. Needless to say this is very costly, and the businesses would prefer to have local specialists, if education system was capable of training those.

The most effective and cost-saving approach in the given situation is improving education via targeted vocational programs in the given narrow field with heavy emphasis on internships and on-the-field trainings supported by agribusiness companies. The examples of EVN wine academy and the Agribusiness Teaching Center in Armenia prove that the industry-academia collaboration leads to the best results. EVN wine academy is an 18 month wine specialists and winemakers vocational training program where the in-class education (that heavily involves industry professionals and best international expertise) is complemented with lab tests, field work during vine pruning season, and internships during grape collection and procurement season. This approach leads to the fact that all students are being employed prior to graduation and get salaries about 2-3 times higher than the industry average.

Similar programs can be held in any field of specialization (ex. agronomy, plant growing, veterinary e.t.c) during high school years in rural areas. One subject on a field of interest (let’s say in Agronomy) can be added to high school curriculum. Schools in villages usually have plot of land around the school that can be utilized for practice trainings and each student will have own plants to take care of. The cost of this project is one-time teacher training and a salary for one additional class to be paid to the teacher (20 USD per month). In this case by the age of 17-18 when they graduate from the school, the young people will have a skill that together with the available resource– family land, will provide profitable employment, hence keeping the youth in rural areas and contributing to food security.

English translation below

* La jeunesse rurale a de sérieux problèmes en matière de travail décent. Il sont souvent confrontés aux problèmes de changement climatique, aux problèmes de mévente en cas de bonnes saisons. Problème de non professionalisation du secteur agricole.

* Il y a de problème de données des jeunes et de politique de professionalisation du secteur agricole. Ce qui décourage et jusqu'à présent mon institution se recherche.

* La croyance que "aller à l'école pour rester au bureau" est solidement enraciné dans les habitudes de la jeunesse. Pour le changement de leur mentalité, il faut des actions oncrètess sur le terrain: lutte contre le changement climatique, la professionalisation des activités agricoles, l'assurance vie des jeunes ruraux, leur formation, leur sensibilisation et partir des jeunes qui ont la passion pour l'agriculture.  Développer l'agriculture Namas etc...

*Financer les activités des groupements agricoles, les former, les sensibiliser sur les methodes innovantes de cultures et surtout l'agriculture intelligente avec une politique inclusive et entrepreneuriales.

* Rural youth has serious problems in terms of decent work. Youth is often confronted with problems of climate change, of slump in sales in the case of good seasons. Problems of non professionalisation of agriculture.

* There are youth data problem and professionalisation of agriculture politics. This discourages and so far my institution is doing research.

* The belief that "go to school to stay in the office" is firmly rooted in the habits of youth. To change their mentality, concrete actions on the ground are needed: the fight against climate change, the professionalisation of agricultural activities, life insurance of rural youth, training, awareness and identification of young people who have the passion for agriculture. Developing agriculture Namas etc ...

* Financing the activities of farm groups, training them, educating on innovative methods of culture and especially on intelligent agriculture with an inclusive and entrepreneurial.