Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

L'agriculture constitue un vrai pilier de developpement de l'économie de l'afrique. Ce secteur c'est la pière angulaire de développement rural, par conséquence, l'investissement dans le secteur agricole induit immediatement un développement du monde rural. Ces zones rurales caractérisées par une population encore jeune. Le developpement économique se base sur cette catégorie de la population (les jeunes) et le secteur agricole reste le premier employeur dans la région de l'afrique de l'ouest et en afrique en general.

le transfert de savoir faire entre génération et le transfert de la technologie constituent une oblegation pour ces jeunes résidants dans ces zones.

Il n'y pas pas plusieurs solutions, le trvail dans le secteur dont les ressources sont encore abendantes (sol et eau) devient une priorité et un choix stratégique pour les jeune. En effet, devant la monte de nouvelle culture et avec le developpement des semences selectionées et modifiés génétiquements (PGM) dans les pays avancés (dévloppés),les produits agricoles d'origin AFRIQUES auront un AVENIR REMARCABLE sur tout si les agriculteurs n'utilisent pas les engrais et les produits phytosaniataires.

Je crois un jour l'humanité va venir en afrique pour chercher les vrais semences de quelques produits non transformer génetiquement, parce que en général, les semences transformées devient de plus en plus dominantes DANS les marchés mondiaux et les semennces "BASIC" deveinet rares.

Alors les jeunes africains doivent montrer leurs savoir faire et leur responsabilité devant leur pays et devant l'humanité.

Agric can be more attractive to young people if government provide the enabling environment and machineries that would encourage young people to go into it

Moi je pense que le jeune africain fuit le secteur agricole à cause de la vétusté des méthodes utilisées. Aussi, pense t-il que l'agriculture est pour les villageois. Il faut cependant mettre une politique de sensibilisation en place pour changer cette mentalité des jeunes et en modernisant le secteur

Comme je l'avais dit plus tôt les jeunes s'inspire de la pauvreté de leur parents qui ont fait de l'agriculture leur métier pour dire qu'un agriculteur est toujours pauvre.Donc il faut d'abord une vulgarisation du bien fondé de ce secteur et associer beaucoup de jeune a des projet de devellopement basé sur l'agriculture 

Je suis d'avis avec le Prof SAKHO qui ajoute la dimension juridique à l'analyse de Mr Cissé. Aussi, concernant la promotion de l'agriculture auprès des jeunes, il est pertinent d'utiliser le potentiel des TIC pour démontrer l'avantage des chaines de valeur ajoutée, la mise en marché et le commerce, comme évoqués préalablement par Mr Ariel.

Youth in Agriculture

Agriculture in West Africa can move people out of poverty and also enhance food security yet the youth are not interested for a number of reasons. The State (from national to local levels) and private sector (input dealers, Banks,  business firms etc ) together with some development institutions/ organizations like NGOs, Community Based Organizations/ Farmer Based Organizations, women groups, the Trade Unions, religious bodies and organizations etc have a role to play.

Some reasons for youth migration out of agriculture and solutions to encourage them are provided as:

• Lack of social amenities in rural areas: it seems much resource have gone into developing our cities at the expense of rural areas and this is attracting the youth to move or migrate from rural to urban centers. Developing rural areas and small towns and districts, and providing infrastructure and services like electricity, portable drinking water, good roads link to markets, health centers with qualified personnel, schools with teachers will encourage the youth to stay in the producing areas.
• Limited skills and labour intensive work: Build capacity of the young farmers and make labour reduction or energy saving devices accessible
• Agriculture is not lucrative compared to other off-farm work: make agriculture lucrative through -
  • Market access – ready market outlet for farmers produce, improve prices for farm produce
  • Storage facilities to preserve produce and prevent post harvest losses
  • Minimize post harvest losses through a number of ways
  •  Extension services and agriculture information support systems to enhance productivity. More women extension workers may be hired or encouraged into the system to support with reaching out to women producers (from cultural or religious perspectives)
  • Various channels for extension in agriculture and nutrition could be used e.g face-to-face, exposure visits, and radio etc
  • Provision of agricultural inputs (farm inputs/ implements, credit etc) to the young farmers
  • Productive and secured land made available to youth through various programmes and negotiations with various authorities and bodies
  • Farm management support for young farmers, and introduction of various commodities to  ensure all year production of agricultural produce (poultry, fisheries and livestock production in addition to diverse crops production)
  • Provide irrigation facilities to also ensure all year round production and incomes for the young farmers
• Link agriculture to nutrition to improve the status of those in producing areas
• Preservation of farm produce through value addition via links to industries, factories, agro-processing etc
• Creation of other non-farm  support systems and income generating activities
• State building partnership with private sector actors and development organizations to work closely with the youth, bringing on board other marginalized groups like those with social disabilities and the excluded in society. It is also important to work wholistically through different government Ministries, Departments and Agencies in using multi-sectoral approach on diverse platforms.

Some of these when implemented may help reduce youth migration out of agriculture and producing areas.

Happy New Year to All!!!

Anna Antwi (PhD), Development Consultant

Rendre attractive l’agriculture pour les jeunes consiste à rendre le monde rural attractif pour toutes les couches de population. De ce point de vue je partage l’analyse de Mr. Cissé (Oxfam). Pour moi il faut aussi intégrer dans l’analyse la dimension juridique qui est à la base de toute structuration des activités économiques rurales. Je travaille actuellement sur l’émergence et la réception par le droit rural d’un concept qui devrait être central dans la montée en charge du monde rural comme l’a été le concept de fonds de commerce pour le secteur des commerçants au 19 siècle en Europe.

En Afrique de l’Ouest, et particulièrement dans un des pays phares comme le Sénégal, malgré les nombreuses tentatives depuis les coopératives paysannes du temps du Président Senghor, jusqu’au groupement d’intérêt économique des années 80 sous le Président Abdou Diouf, en passant par les sociétés unipersonnelles ou plus récemment le statut de l’entreprenant du système OHADA, le monde rural n’arrive pas à trouver la structure juridique idoine qui va le conduire aux formes d’exploitation économique qu’exige le monde contemporain. Il est vrai que, comme pour les commerçants avec leurs fonds de commerce (les éléments de la boutique), le monde rural a toujours été appréhendé de manière parcellaire selon que les activités sont agricoles, pastorales ou sylvicoles. L’approche globale ne date pas de très longtemps et il n’est donc pas étonnant que la notion de fonds agro sylvo pastorale soit absente même si les textes récents comme la loi sénégalaise d’orientation agro sylvo pastorale (LOSAP : 2004) prétendent mettre l’accent sur la nécessité de rendre attractifs le monde rural et les exploitations familiales qui doivent être modernisés, intensifiés dans un système durable qui respecte l'environnement.

FSN West Africa Network

Finding work for young people – agricultural options

New year – new opportunities

OK, so the Christmas and New Year holiday period has passed and everyone is climbing back into the flow of things for the start of 2014. We have a brand new year to live and explore, and if you don’t take advantage of the time on hand, you’ll find yourself one year older this time on in January 2015 and nothing exceptional will have been achieved. If you’re young, enthusiastic and interested in agriculture now is the time to do something about it. While you’re sitting around thinking about things, others are doing.

What kind of agriculture are you talking about?

Agriculture has always been one of the world’s most under-rated lifestyles, but then the majority of people don’t want to be part of the traditional peasant communities that continue to dominate much of small-scale agro-production worldwide. If you want to remain small you have to specialize, become technically clever, and market those few high value products with skill and knowledge (of markets). The reality is, however, that few of us become farmers – the majority end up working elsewhere in the value chain – as service providers of one kind or another.

Starting out

This is not to under-estimate the challenge if you’re graduating next June and don’t have any idea of what you want to do from July-on (meaning you know what you don’t want to do, but not the opposite). There are complex issues here given that many agricultural graduates are not taught how to become farmers, but how to occupy service niches – as salesmen, technicians, managers, service agents, engineers, scientists, economists, administrators and more for either that lucrative white collar job in government service or, more difficult still, as a junior entrant with an agricultural service company – providing farm inputs, technical advice, trading and more but, typically, with a sales platform implicitly involved. How else can the company remain in business?

It’s even more challenging if you’ve left school with little in the way of an education. You’ll really need luck then to find a rewarding niche in the local job economy. The buoyancy of the teenager quickly fades with the lack of opportunities, the short-term jobs, low pay and, more worrying, low esteem and low expectations that creep up on you. And they do.

So you have to get educated, and you have to understand how to compete in the marketplace.

Where to go from here?

You will already have read the introduction to the current debate – importance of agriculture in West Africa, fastest growing population, (so lots of scope to feed people), key role of agriculture in local economies and dependency by >60% of the population on agriculture. What can you do about it? As the introduction to the debate says ‘How do you make jobs in agriculture more appealing to young people?’ For a start, focus upon finding that job. Jobs don’t grow on trees (as my old Prof used to say – but then he was a dairyman not a forester).

 Sales pitch

That first wage earning job is a milestone on the path to independence and maturity for most young people. Everyone remembers the first time. School and university are important, but the period is quickly relegated to those formative years as competition for your space in the world takes priority. But first you have to find that job.

Selling into markets

The market, as defined by economists and planners, is simply a place where buyers and sellers do business. For most people, markets represent a place in the community where goods are traded on a regular basis. (But it can also mean the ‘space’ where services and skills are bought and sold.)

Young people in the marketplace

Markets are important for young people seeking employment. Wherever there are people there will be need to sell yourself; to convince others that you and you alone are the best and most suitable choice. You have to market yourself - much the same way that you would sell any valuable commodity. You and your qualifications will need to be promoted with skill to attain the best possible opportunities when seeking employment. Selling yourself may be tough, and much may depend upon the reality of demand for people with your skills and your kind of experience.

Gaining a competitive advantage

Your biggest competitor will be other young people around your age with similar skills, experience and qualifications who may also be seeking the same employment opportunity. You can do much to make yourself more attractive to a prospective employer. Key points to consider are (1) Computer knowledge; (2) Languages skills; and (3) Imagination. This, in addition to having some qualifications and/or experience for the work on offer, for example, you have less chance of working as a technician in an agricultural machinery company if you trained as a biologist (but that should not stop you from trying – if you really want the job).

Wherever you are, you are most likely never to be far from the Internet, which has become easily and cheaply available in recent times. This is where computer skills come in. It is often difficult to get the necessary training, yet the message is a simple one – you have to have computer/keyboard skills in a modern world. No good fudging this one.

Languages are equally important. You may already have one of the key international languages such as Arabic, English, French or Spanish in additional to your local language. Competence in a major international language is essential, and you may have to work hard to gain more than simply a passing knowledge of it. West Africa is divided into parts on the basis of two international languages – make sure you can work in both of them; quality work too – written and spoken.

Imagination comes from within. The great pioneers of science, technology, history and geography were mainly people with vision. It takes a special kind of person to explore alternatives, to think differently, to be able to apply theory or practice out-of-context. Much will depend on your personality, your upbringing and the way that you have developed as a child and a young person. With effort you can develop your imagination and become more versatile. Developments of this kind – with skill - should continue throughout your life.

Follow the employment opportunities in your local community, watch the companies and/or public sectors for possibilities from the advertisements that are posted. Search the web each week. Target the jobs with high quality CVs and letters of application and, when given the opportunity, present yourself in the best possible manner. Almost everyone older than you in the workforce will have faced the same challenges. Now it’s your turn.

Go for it and hope for that little bit of luck that we all need to succeed. And, if you’re not successful, try again. Remember that success rate is typically 2-3% only.

Case study #1: Motor mechanic. One of the most valuable skills in modern communities is an ability to understand how motor vehicles work. This attracts many young men, but young women make equally good mechanics when provided with an opportunity to become involved. The biggest challenge may be one of breaking with tradition in the community. Hey, you don’t even need to do the mechanic’s work – you can manage others who do it; but you will need that understanding of what is going on.

Case study #2: Tractor operation. More than 60% of farmers around the globe are women but, paradoxically, bring in machines and the work becomes dominated by the men. Machines make life easier on the farm, their use raises the image of farming and boosts the productivity of people on the land. Machines-on-the-land are the future of agriculture everywhere.

People are more efficient when in charge of machines (and when designing, developing, manufacturing and servicing them). Have you considered training as an engineer? Everything around you in the modern world has been ‘engineered’. Nothing can be achieved without engineering skills, technologies and experience. The future of people is ‘engineering’.

Peter Steele

Agricultural Engineer

Melbourne Australia

La question de l’intérêt pour l’agriculture ne se pose pas seulement pour les jeunes mais aussi pour tous les agriculteurs et notamment les exploitants familiaux. Cette perte d’attraction pour l’agriculture s’explique par le désinvestissement depuis les années 80 par les différents Etats de l’Afrique subsaharienne. A la faveur de la crise alimentaire de 2008, beaucoup de pays ont reconsidéré leur attitude de sur place par rapport à l’agriculture en mettant plus de ressources pour la production. Mais malheureusement cet engagement était une réaction à un  problème et ne s’était pas inscrite dans une volonté de développement de l’agriculture. Pourtant les chefs d’Etats africains s’étaient engagés en 2003 d’investir au moins 10% de leur budget nationaux dans l’agriculture et de porter la croissance à 6% en 5 ans. Peu de pays ont respecté ces engagements.

Partant de ce constat, pour rendre l’agriculture attrayante pour les jeunes il faut :

1. Faire de l’agriculture un véritable secteur porteur de croissance. L’engagement pour l’agriculture doit être porté au plus haut niveau de l’Etat et il doit soutenir les exploitations familiales avec un accent particulier pour les jeunes. En Afrique de l’Ouest la CEDEAO dispose d’une politique agricole et d’un plan régional d’investissement. Cette même orientation existe dans les pays qui eux aussi disposent tous de plans nationaux d’investissement. Ils doivent s’y investir pour les mettre en œuvre, ce qui ferait du secteur un secteur de croissance. Si les Etas s’inscrivent dans cette dynamique l’agriculture attirerait les jeunes.
2. Rendre accessibles aux jeunes les facteurs de production : Pour s’engager dans l’agriculture, les jeunes doivent avoir un accès facile aux moyens de production et notamment la terre et les intrants agricoles à travers un crédit agricole à de faibles taux d’intérêt.
3. Créer des opportunités pour les jeunes : Beaucoup pensent que s’engager dans l’agriculture se limite à la production et qu’il y’a trop de risques par rapport à la post production. Cette perception limite la motivation des jeunes à pratiquer l’agriculture. Pour leur permettre de s’y intéresser il faut favoriser la promotion d’une politique de transformation agricole et de développement des marchés. Les jeunes peuvent se situer en amont ou en aval de l’agriculture.
4. Créer un environnement incitatif favorable au développement de l’agriculture : L’existence d’un marché des produits agricoles peut contribuer au développement de l’agriculture et ainsi attirer les jeunes. Créer un environnement favorable au développement des marchés indique de travailler au niveau régional pour permettre au commerce inter états de prospérer. Ce commerce régional ne peut exister que si les entraves sont levées. Si pour beaucoup la promotion des marchés doit aussi passer par le développement des infrastructures et en premier lieu les pistes de production pour le désenclavement, il faut imaginer d’autres aspects. En effet, il faudra un solide programme d’accompagnement qui intégrerait la promotion des produits, la défiscalisation ou même la mise en œuvre d’une stratégie d’achats institutionnels (réserves alimentaires nationales et de proximité, approvisionnements des établissements publics comme les hôpitaux, les universités, les casernes militaires ou les pénitenciers). Par exemple, la mise en place d’un fonds de promotion ou de marketing des produits locaux permettrait de valoriser les produits locaux dans l’objectif vendre le « consommer local ».

If agriculture is made productive, profitable and more attractive to youths, total output will increase remarkably. To this end, a number of measures should be taken:

1. Recruitment and training of more youth agriculture extension workers.

2. Development of youth groups and provision of support services.

3. Improving access to agricultural land, appropriate technology, inputs and soft loan.

4. Acquisition of special skills through training and provision of appropriate equipment and mechanization services to reduce drudgery and enhance productivity.

5. Encouragement to take active part in agro-processing, storage, and marketing.

In Sierra Leone our population is predominantly comprised of youths whose role in development is multi-sectoral. For this reason the government national document (agenda for prosperity) has created a National Youth Commission to develop and harness such vital human resource.

In the agriculture sector, the ministry of agriculture forestry and food security flagship program Smallholder Commercialization Program, there is an opportunity of good self-employment. Already, some youth groups are actively engaged in various aspects of agriculture looking out for quick economic returns. However, we need to make agriculture more attractive and productive for young people through massive sensitization, and training using the farmer field school approach and facilitate access to credit (financial services association/community banks) for several other youths to emulate their colleagues to participate fully in all aspect of agriculture within the value chain concept ( production, processing, and marketing - agro business)

Mohamed Ajuba Sheriff

Sierra Leone