Promouvoir la participation et l’emploi des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires - Consultation électronique du HLPE sur la portée du rapport
Lors de sa 46e session plénière (14-18 octobre 2019), le Comité des Nations Unies sur la sécurité alimentaire mondiale (CSA) a demandé à son groupe d'experts de haut niveau sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (GrEHN ou HLPE) de produire un rapport intitulé «Promouvoir la participation et l’emploi des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires», à présenter en 2021 (la demande est reproduite ci-dessous) [1].
Le rapport, qui formulera un ensemble de recommandations pour l’axe de travail éponyme du CSA:
- Présentera les possibilités et les facteurs contraignants en matière de participation et d’emploi des jeunes dans les systèmes agricoles et alimentaires, y compris l’accès des jeunes aux éléments suivants:
- connaissances, informations et éducation;
- terres, ressources naturelles et intrants servant à la production;
- outils de production, vulgarisation, services consultatifs et financiers;
- programme de formation, d’éducation et de mentorat;
- innovation et nouvelles technologies;
- marchés;
- processus d’élaboration de politiques.
- Examinera les aspects concernant l’emploi, les salaires et les conditions de travail;
- Recensera les règles, la réglementation et les approches en matière de politiques, y compris les approches territoriales, qui doivent permettre de faire face à la complexité des transformations structurelles, économiques, culturelles, sociales et spatiales qui s’opèrent actuellement dans le monde entier;
- Montrera comment les systèmes alimentaires et des liens renforcés entre zones rurales et zones urbaines peuvent contribuer à accroître le nombre et la qualité des emplois pour les jeunes et les femmes. Examine aspects related to employment, salaries, and working conditions.
Pour mettre en œuvre cette demande du CSA, le GrEHN/HLPE lance une consultation électronique ouverte afin de recueillir des points de vue et observations sur la portée et les éléments constitutifs du rapport, décrits ci-dessous.
Veuillez prendre note du fait que, parallèlement à cette consultation visant à établir la portée du rapport, le HLPE invite les experts intéressés à poser leur candidature pour faire partie de l’équipe du projet chargée d’élaborer ce rapport. L'Appel à candidature restera ouvert jusqu'au 21 janvier 2020. Cliquez ici pour plus de détails (en anglais).
Avant-projet relatif à la portée du rapport du HLPE sur le thème: «Promouvoir la participation et l’emploi des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires» proposé par le Comité directeur du HLPE
La participation des jeunes (femmes et hommes) est essentielle pour assurer la transition vers une agriculture et des systèmes alimentaires durables et sains. On estime que plus de 2 milliards d'enfants naîtront dans le monde entre 2015 et 2030 (ONU, 2015 [2]). La majorité de ces enfants se trouvera en Afrique subsaharienne et en Asie du Sud, où l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires constituent le plus gros employeur et où les besoins en termes de disponibilité, d'accès et de qualité des aliments et de la nutrition sont les plus grands. Il existe un important réservoir inexploité d'emplois dans le secteur agroalimentaire, qui est de plus en plus limité par d'importantes contraintes de main-d'œuvre dans de nombreuses régions du monde. Cependant, en raison de l'accès limité à la terre, aux ressources naturelles, aux infrastructures, aux finances, à la technologie, aux marchés, aux connaissances et aux mauvaises conditions de travail, le secteur ne peut être considéré comme attractif et durable pour les jeunes. Il y a une forte incidence d'informalité, de travail occasionnel, de sous-emploi, de travail des enfants, de travail forcé, de pauvreté au travail et parmi les taux les plus faibles d'accès à la protection sociale et à la syndicalisation dans le secteur agricole. Très souvent, les jeunes femmes, une fois mariées, sont principalement engagées dans l'agriculture, souvent pour leur subsistance, tandis que les jeunes hommes quittent le secteur à la recherche d'autres opportunités de revenus et d'une plus grande autonomie. Les normes traditionnelles et culturelles discriminatoires défavorisent les femmes en ce qui concerne l'accès aux ressources productives, limitant leur capacité à innover dans leurs exploitations. Il est donc important de mieux comprendre les aspirations des jeunes, différenciées selon le sexe, la classe sociale, l’appartenance ethnique et autres formes de différence, afin de permettre la mise en place de systèmes alimentaires durables.
Alors que la moyenne d'âge mondiale de ces agriculteurs approche les 60 ans, il est essentiel de concevoir des systèmes, des politiques et des programmes qui attirent davantage les jeunes vers l’agriculture, les systèmes alimentaires et les métiers connexes, notamment la recherche et l'innovation. Celles-ci devraient fournir des espaces et des mécanismes de participation, ainsi que des possibilités d’entreprenariat. L'agriculture de subsistance traditionnelle n'est pas attrayante pour les jeunes et il est essentiel de transformer l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires d'une manière qui présente un défi intellectuel et qui soit économiquement rentable. Pour que les jeunes restent dans l'agriculture, il faut également améliorer le niveau de vie et la qualité des services dans les zones rurales et les villes de taille moyenne.
La participation et le leadership des jeunes femmes et hommes dans l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires sont essentiels car les jeunes doivent être reconnus en tant qu'agents de changement et non seulement en tant que bénéficiaires d'aides et de mesures de soutien. La participation des jeunes à la prise de décisions concernant l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires nécessite de créer un environnement propice, grâce à la mise en place de mécanismes spécifiques permettant aux jeunes de faire entendre leurs voix; et la reconnaissance du statut social, économique, culturel et politique de la jeunesse pour lui permettre de participer pleinement. L’environnement législatif et institutionnel influe sur le respect des droits des jeunes, sur leurs conditions de travail et d’emploi, ainsi que sur leur participation effective. La cohérence entre les politiques et les législations sectorielles et de l'emploi doit être encouragée afin de garantir qu'il n'y ait pas d'objectifs contradictoires dans les différentes politiques et que les politiques se renforcent mutuellement.
Les objectifs de ce rapport sont de mieux comprendre les raisons différenciées selon le sexe de la participation limitée des jeunes dans l’agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires, de définir de nouvelles opportunités pour les jeunes d’améliorer leur efficacité et leur durabilité, et de formuler des recommandations pour faciliter leur engagement actif et leur emploi. Ces recommandations seront conformes aux objectifs de développement durable (ODD), en particulier aux objectifs 2, 3 et 5, ainsi qu’à d’autres accords conclus aux niveaux mondial et régional.
Au cours de cette consultation électronique, le comité de direction du GrEHN/HLPE sera heureux de recevoir vos commentaires. En particulier, vous êtes invités à:
- Exprimer vos commentaires sur les objectifs et le contenu de ce rapport, comme il est indiqué ci-dessus;
- Partager des bonnes pratiques et expériences réussies pour améliorer la participation des jeunes à la gouvernance de l'agriculture et des systèmes alimentaires, s'attaquer aux obstacles qui empêchent les jeunes de s'engager en tant qu'entrepreneurs et créer des opportunités de travail décent pour les jeunes dans l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires, à différentes échelles (du local au global) et pour différents acteurs (publics, privés ou de la société civile), y compris en ce qui concerne les aspects législatifs et de création d’environnements propices;
- Partager les références les plus récentes à prendre en compte dans ce rapport;
- Fournir des informations en retour sur les questions suivantes, en identifiant les problèmes de genre, afin de guider l'élaboration du rapport:
- Pourquoi est-il nécessaire de promouvoir la participation et l'emploi des jeunes dans l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires?
Quels sont les principaux problèmes et opportunités? - Comment l'évolution et les transitions de l'agriculture, des systèmes alimentaires et de la nutrition affectent-elles la participation et l'emploi des jeunes?
Comment l’emploi dans l’agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires peut-il devenir plus attrayant pour les jeunes, compte tenu en particulier du continuum rural-urbain?
Que faudrait-il pour améliorer les niveaux de vie et les services dans les zones rurales et les villes moyennes, afin de retenir les jeunes et les jeunes familles? - Quelles transformations de la gouvernance sont nécessaires pour permettre et encourager la participation des jeunes d l'agriculture et aux systèmes alimentaires, et quelles actions sont nécessaires pour doter les jeunes des compétences et de la confiance nécessaires pour participer pleinement à ces processus décisionnels?
- Quelles sont les voies les plus prometteuses pour transformer les systèmes agricoles et alimentaires actuels dans les pays en développement afin de les rendre plus attrayants pour les jeunes?
- Quelles sont les meilleures stratégies pour engager pleinement les jeunes, en particulier les jeunes femmes, dans les opportunités d’acquérir les compétences adéquates et les opportunités d’apprentissage pour développer davantage leurs connaissances et leur permettre d’être des leaders dans l’agriculture innovante et la transformation des systèmes alimentaires?
- Quelles sont les politiques les plus appropriées pour lever les obstacles qui empêchent les jeunes d’entreprendre et / ou de développer des activités dans l’agriculture et les services connexes, la chaîne alimentaire, l’agroécologie et l’environnement alimentaire, ainsi que dans les domaines de la nutrition et de l’innovation, en fonction de leurs compétences, aspirations, atouts et contextes?
- Quelles sont les politiques et les initiatives les plus appropriées pour faciliter la transition de l’éducation au marché du travail et le recrutement et le maintien des jeunes dans les activités liées à l’agriculture et aux systèmes alimentaires? Quels sont les nœuds et activités dans les chaînes d'approvisionnement qui présentent le potentiel le plus élevé pour générer des emplois décents pour les jeunes? Quels nouveaux types de formations sont nécessaires pour favoriser davantage d'approches agroécologiques de l'agriculture?
- Quelle est l'ampleur des écarts de salaires en défaveur des jeunes, et en particulier des jeunes femmes, dans l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires, et quelles sont les expériences réussies en matière de suppression de ces écarts de salaire?
- Quelles données sont nécessaires pour soutenir l'élaboration de politiques visant à renforcer la participation et l'emploi des jeunes et à sensibiliser aux besoins, vulnérabilités et opportunités spécifiques des jeunes défavorisés?
- Pourquoi est-il nécessaire de promouvoir la participation et l'emploi des jeunes dans l'agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires?
[1] La demande du CSA relative au 16e rapport du HLPE est extraite du «Programme de travail pluriannuel 2020-2023 du CSA» (réf: CFS 2019/46/7), disponible à l'adresse : http://www.fao.org/3//na703fr/na703fr.pdf
- Afficher 57 contributions
As a Coordinator of the University of Lagos Organic Demonstration Farm, I have come to realize that over 90% of the students who actively participate in the farm practical do so in order to earn mark to boost their grades and not with for interest for career development. The lack of motivation stems from non automation of the current farm infrastructure (manual tilling watering, weeding etc), degraded soil resulted from prolong use of synthetic input, insufficient access to organic input and unavailability of simple test kits that can aid practical learning and research among others. These challenges have huge impact on students’ perception and behavior and further close their understanding about the opportunities that fly around farming activities.
One of the main issues agriculture currently faces worldwide is one of perception. Be that the perception of agriculture as a backward industry where one only gets involved in it if you have no other options or of agriculture destroying the environment and one of the main causes of climate change.
These perceptions need to change. This change will have to happen at a young age and children must be enabled to see what an exciting prospect it is to be involved in agriculture.
Attached is a Nuffield report looking at just this issue, it was written from an Irish perspective but it could easily be adjusted for any region or country. If it can be ensured that this generation of children grow up with an appreciation, interest and even an excitement around the possibilities that agriculture offers them, then the world will reap the benefits in the future.
All African countries are talking land redistribution. This is the right time to seriously consider how the Youth and woman are involved. Not everyone should go into farming. Those Youth that has a sort of qualification or background in Agriculture should be considered. This indicates that Agriculture is seriously considered as carrier. We should avoid the situation which happened in Zimbabwe where land was distributed to politicians. Politicians should be politicians. Farmers should be farmers!
Phase Out Aging Farmers from Farmer Associations
Youths’ engagement in agriculture and in any other development sector is a national problem and even within the nation it could be regional or zone issue just the way it is in Nigeria. Take for example, northern part of the country specifically northwest, here the bottom line problems of youths for agriculture and food security development are more traditional more accurately than governance, literacy, technology adoption or policy implementation. Looking back at the days when rural-urban movement was normal daily agricultural marketing activity the youths were still born and bred in rural agricultural production system that provided high level food security engagements. After each day’s movement to urban areas the youths trace the way back to rural areas same day for rural life continuity. But rural-urban migration started taking shape when rural youths come to understand they are sidelined in community development aspects controlled by the elders. Remember, agriculture was then very attractive and profitable and any person who entirely depends on agriculture was well respected in the community. However, in the elders state of mind a youth is always small-minded disorganized human being that should not be entrusted with community’s development aspects until the age 40 plus. At that material time females are out of the question as they were kept only for raising family and household affairs. Western education was deliberately denied for youths in fear of them taking over elders’ prominence in the community. Time changes and so everything!
This negative traditional trend hunts youths to date that couldn’t be unassociated with failures of farmer associations in the region. The connection between farmer associations and food security is organizational attitude to acquiring knowledge and skill for positive change and organizational ability brought by internal unity of purpose, interest and responsibility under one roof of vision to produce, distribute and share. By traditional design and suppression aging out farmers are always leaders in emerging farmers organizations since time immemorial. They are the administrators; technical directors and commercial managers in any farmer organization found in the region. Under this dispensation the youths have no chance of bailing out to open development opportunities for themselves and community at large while food security and nutrition shall continue suffering until there is radical changes in the structure and duties and responsibilities of such organizations.
By rough estimation there are over 20 million population of graduate, skilled and unskilled youths in northwest region of Nigeria that are idly living on massive arable land with water reservoirs sufficient enough to support year round agricultural productions for direct consumption, supply local manufacturing industries and for exporting. This will never happen beyond 2030 unless aging out farmers are graciously and tactically phased out of the leadership seats of farmer organizations for gradual replacement with upcoming energetic, knowledge-full, innovative and intelligent male and female youths to manage and control all aspects of farmer organizations across the region.
Promoting youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food system
From the academic and practical points of view, youth, who are the majority of most developing nations’ populations, are not usually attracted to taking agriculture as a profession, career, or enterprise.
From the developing nations' perspective, the main reasons identified are i. Agriculture is perceived and practiced as males’ enterprise, although females are the majority of the workforce; ii. The use of manual tools, as well as the unattractive nature of farming; and iii. Its low profitability; agriculture is associated with poverty among the youth.
Hence, to promote youth’s engagement and employment in agriculture, there must be i. conscious mainstreaming of gender equity principles and ICT into the teaching, research, service provision, and practice of agriculture at all levels; ii. Development of gender-responsive low cost and available technologies to ease activities along the Agriculture value chain; iii. Youth empowerment and teaching agriculture as a profit-oriented subject at all levels; and v. formulation and implementation of gender-responsive policies at all levels.
(Olanike Deji, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria)
Youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food system can be effectively promoted from curricula and practical aspects. Youth, who are the majority of most developing nations’ populations, are not attracted to taking agriculture as a profession nor as an entrepreneur or career.
From the perspectives and experience in most developing countries, the main reasons identified are i. Agriculture is perceived and practiced as males’ enterprise, although females are the majority of the workforce; ii. The use of manual tools, as well as the unattractive nature of farming; and iii. Its low profitability; agriculture is associated with poverty among the youth.
Hence, to promote youth’s engagement and employment in agriculture, there must be i. conscious mainstreaming of gender and ICT into the teaching, research, service provision, and practice of agriculture at all levels; ii. Development of gender-responsive low cost and available technologies to ease activities along the Agriculture value chain; iii. Youth empowerment and the teaching of agriculture as a profit-oriented subject at all levels; and v. formulation and implementation of gender-responsive policies at all levels. (Olanike Deji, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.
This relates to youth access to extension & advisory services
In 2013, I published a blog, "Youth: Potential Target for Agricultural Extension" , wherein, I emphasised reorineting extension services keeping youth as potential target. Youth are often more willing to adopt new ideas and technologies compared older generation of farmers, therefore, agricultural extension services should target youth to transform agriculture.Young farmers often have greater capacity for innovation, imagination, initiative and entrepreneurship than older adults and these characteristics should be effectively harnessed by extension services to provide better livelihood opportunities for youth in agriculture. In India, a number of programmes, initiatives have been taken to engage youth.
Please visit my blog at
https://www.aesanetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AESA-BLOG-10.pdf
When we conduct surveys, often we consult & take into account the views of Head of household, who is generally male & aged.This excludes the young & women who too has stake in agriculture, if not much now but surely they are the future farmers. Once we get their views on the problems and constraints and how they can be supported, then only we can develop policies which support their constructive engagments in agriculture, help them retaining in rural areas to avoid migrating to cities. Youth often find it exciting to work on value chains, rather than just primary production of agricultural commodities. In our youth mentoring programme, we found youth were more excited meeting agripreneurs compared to farmers doing routine farming activities. The agripreneurs were adding value to primary farm products by processing, packaging and handling marketing even online selling farm products. Many youth are now organizing themselves as Farmer producer groups and enjoy marketing farm products alongside producing farm commodities innovatively. There is need to bring changes in school curriculums to ignite young minds on modern farming practices including export orientations, we need more youth mentoring programmes, handholding to establish them into agribusinesses. We are currently supporting agri-startups, wherein, many innovative ideas by youths are being incubated in research institutions and universites. Young and women are taking lot of interest in agriventures, which gives positive signals for farming sector. Also, many youths with urban background, are now taking up agriculture, often giving up their high profile jobs. These are new role models for rural youths. Agriculture sector needs more glamour, we have to make it attractive to youth.
https://ypard.net/2017-09-11/make-agriculture-%E2%80%98cool%E2%80%99-yo…
https://ypard.net/testimonials/mentoring-rural-youth-make-agriculture-a…
Here are some brief comments on promoting the youth's active participation in agriculture and food systems:
1. Designing agriculture training programs/offerings (e.g. agribusiness) and training methods (for instance through ICT, community-based, industry-informed, mentorship, etc) that are appropriate to the youth.
2. Involving key stakeholders (such as parents, local communities, etc) and not just students.
3. Pursuing value-addition in the food and agriculture value-chain.
4. Development of ICT-based innovations and interventions for agriculture and food security (for instance: via mobile technologies, Internet-of-Things, drones, etc).
5. Promoting youth's access to credit for agriculture and food security projects, activities and businesses.
6. Promoting youth's access to natural resources (e.g. land), agricultural inputs and markets for agriculture and food security projects, activities and businesses.
7. Creating social and support networks through which the youth can share information and access services.
- Share your comments on the objectives and content of this report as outlined above;
These objectives are very broad and not specified for a different level (local, regional, or international)
These objectives should include enhancement and attraction for working in agriculture and food system.
These objectives should include economic aspect clearly.
- Share good practices and successful experiences to improve youth engagement in the governance of agriculture and food systems; to address obstacles hindering youth ability to engage as entrepreneurs, and to generate decent work opportunities for youth in agriculture and food systems, at different scales (from local to global) and by different stakeholders (public, private or civil society), including with respect to legislation and the enabling environment;
1st of all, these can be achieved through different aspects:
- Education (Agriculture Technical colleges / Institutes).
- Long term loan OR just subsidies.
- Joined SME’s (small enterprises).
- Agriculture Society.
- Land tenure for the graduated youth.
- Guaranteed markets (locally, regionally & internationally)
- Farm business School
- Maps & data base (soil, land, water, land suitability, investment …etc.)
Here in Oman we have a very good and successful practice, which is Agriculture Society in different region of Oman for a different crop.
- Share the most recent references that should be considered in this report;
I don’t have it, but we can add here many case studies from different countries (it’s under formulation)
- Provide feedback on the following questions, identifying any gender issues, to guide the development of the report:
- Why is there a need to promote youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food systems? What are the key issues and opportunities?
- To enhance the agriculture and food system by new high tech / pro. / apps. through youth.
- To supply the markets of high value crops and their manufactured food.
- To strengthen the supply chain & logistics of markets locally/regionally/internationally.
- Reduce the un-employee ratio in the countries.
- Reduce indirectly the crop damage and waste food.
- Change livelihood of new generation
- Family security and safety.
- Food security for their future.
- How do the evolution and transitions of agriculture, food systems and nutrition affect youth engagement and employment? How can agriculture and food systems employment become more attractive for youth, especially considering the rural-urban continuum? What would be needed to improve standards of living and services in rural areas and mid-sized towns, to retain youth and young families?
These can be achieved by minimize by:
- Reconsider the Land Use in rural areas based on agricultural land suitability.
- Call for local / regional / international agriculture investments.
- Build up the infrastructure (roads, telecommunication, markets…etc.) for the agriculture business.
- What governance transformations are necessary to enable and encourage youth participation in agriculture and food systems, and what actions are required to equip youth with the necessary skills and confidence in fully engaging in these decision-making processes?
- Market
- Education (college level at least)
- Training
- Loan / subsidies
- Logistic
- Involve the youth farmers in agriculture and food exhibitions.
- What are the most promising pathways to transform current agriculture and the food systems in developing countries to make them more attractive to the youth?
Soil maps, investment maps and data base THEN visibility studies THEN SME’s with government support THEN farming THEN communication (local, regional, international, markets) THEN logistic companies sustainability
- What are the best strategies for fully engaging youth, in particular young women, in opportunities to acquire adequate skills and learning opportunities to further develop their knowledge and enable them to be leaders in innovative agriculture and the transformation of food systems?
Training, Facilities, SME’s, Markets
- What are the most appropriate policies to remove obstacles to empower youth initiate and/or upscale activities in agriculture and related services, in the food supply chain, in agro ecology, and in the food environment, as well as in nutrition and innovation, in accordance to their skills, aspirations, assets and contexts?
- Reduce or Remove taxes for a certain year
- Give them a loan with very low interest
- Well and long term training program (farming, pest treatment, irrigation, farming business …. etc)
- Open a guaranteed market for their products
- What are the most appropriate policies and initiatives to facilitate the education-to-labour market transition and youth recruitment and retention in agriculture and food systems’ related activities?
Government and/or organizations must give an attention to build up a system of agriculture technical colleges (irrigation system insulation, farming system technique, farm business school, livestock related issue …. etc)
- What nodes and activities in supply chains have the highest potential for generating decent jobs for youth? Logistic of agriculture and livestock products.
- Import/export businesses.
- Markets
- Integrated Agricultural Project (plant / livestock)
What new types of training are needed foster more agro ecological approaches to farming?
- Modern or high tech agriculture (integrated hydroponic and aquaponics system).
- Farm business school
- How to build up an agriculture society.
- What is the extent of wage discrepancies against youth and women in agriculture and food systems, and what are some successful experiences in removing such wage differentials?
- 1st part: the discrepancies in this issue depending on countries development and counties GDP.
- 2nd part: we can remove these differences by involving the youth farmer’s (both gender) as partners and shareholders in the agricultural project
- What data is necessary to support policy development to enhance youth engagement and employment, and to create awareness of the specific needs, vulnerabilities and opportunities of disadvantaged youth?
On country level we need the following:
- Total population
- Gender ratio
- Gender ration on the base of different age
- Gender qualification
- Population density and distribution map
- Investment map
- Land use map
- Land suitability map
- Soil & water maps
- Integrated studies of the targeted areas for the agriculture and food systems.
- Local, regional & international markets.
- Agricultural education data.
- Training / Agriculture extension / Farming business school data
Cette activité est maintenant terminée. Veuillez contacter [email protected] pour toute information complémentaire.