Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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    • Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts on the V.0 draft of this important publication on youth engagement in agriculture and food systems. I will comment at MACRO level, being unconvinced that editing can be done by dispersed global participants. The following comes to mind:

       

      1. It worries me that like so much else in development thinking, the document is attracted to emphasising RIGHTS and never RESPONSIBILITIES. Should youth not be encouraged to realise that rights are best exercised alongside taking responsibility for actions and attitudes?. Some toning down of the "rights,  agency and equity" package may be useful;

       

      2. Despite many people being despondent in the world today, the reality is that the world and each of its regions still has a lot of OPPORTUNITIES. It would make the document stimulating if each chapter (and the whole document in general) could communicate this sense of hope and excitement about opportunties; it should not excessively focus on problems/ hurdles/challnges. I say this despite writing from Africa, which has its share of hurdles to surmount;

       

      3. Chapter 2  shows that the focus of the publication is on developing countries. Despite this, I cant help thinking that the youth of this very broad category cannot be preached at or preached about as if they are the same. Globally agriculture is practiced in countries where farmers are under 5% of the population to countries where this share is 70% or more - there is NO HOMOGENEITY. In developing countries, this range may narrow to 10%-80%, which is still wide - and would remain wide when engagement higher up the value chain is also considered.

       

      Would it not be better to STRATIFY youths somewhat according to the relative prominence of the agriculture and food sector in the economies and society? In countries with different prominence of agriculture and agro-industry, the opportunities for youth cannot be the same and policies to adopt cannot also be uniform.

       

      4. URBANISATION is very rapid in all developing regions, including my own Africa. This brings considerable and progressive change in links to agriculture (more alienation or distancing); shifts in food habits and the content of diets; transformation to various degrees in extent of pre-processing of food and duration of storage (and need for it). I do NOT see the structural changes of the food sector caused by urbanisation highlighted well enough in the draft.

       

      5. Figure 4 on page 22 on YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT carries a major surprise for me. If pre-Covid youth unemployment in Africa was 10% and below, governments and society would have been celebrating. Have I missed something?

       

      The numbers we hear daily here are of youth unemployment around 50% or higher for both genders: in fact the 40%+ reported for North Africa would surely apply even more to Sub-Saharan Africa.

       

      I look forward to following the inputs of many others.

       

      Mafa Chipeta

      [Malawian]