YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE – SYNTHESIS REPORT FOR MADAGASCAR, MALAWI, SOUTH AFRICA, ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE

Prepared for the Regional Conference on Gender and Youth in Agriculture Pretoria 15-18 July 2013

Southern Africa Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU)

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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

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2. KEY MESSAGES

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3. DEFINING YOUTH

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4. FINDINGS 4.1 State of Play 4.2 What Explains the Low Engagement of Youth in Agriculture? 4.3 What Can Attract Youths More into Farming as a Career? 4.4 What Interventions are Being Tried and can Continue into the Future?

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5. SELECTED QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DECISION

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LIST OF SACAU-COMMISSIONED NATIONAL REPORTS

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ANNEXES Annex 1: Factors Cited as Discouraging the Interest of Youth in Agriculture

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Annex 2: What Can Attract Youth More Into Agriculture?

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Annex 3: Ongoing and Suggested Initiatives to Engage Youth in Agriculture

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Annex 4: Selected Data Tables

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1. INTRODUCTION 1. In terms of average age, Africa is a young continent: reports mention about 60 – 70 percent of its people being under 30 years old. Yet Africa’s agriculture is predominantly done by the old and infirm – those left behind or retired into rural areas as young people seek opportunities in the growing urban areas and their surrounds. The youth exodus out of rural areas also means exit from agriculture; it condemns Africa to a future without successors to the agricultural producers of food fibre and fuel. Youth also have more education than the elders being left on the land: if they were engaged, they would have greater capacity to learn and apply modern yield-enhancing technologies, technologies for processing, and new century management methods to apply to the entire value chain from farm to market. 2. A loss of youth means also a loss of the future and of chances to modernise, to become more productive and to compete successfully in a globalised world. To fail in having youth excited about agriculture and energetically involved in it is to condemn Africa to food insecurity, poverty and continued reliance on costly imports (which continue to grow) and charitable food aid. 3. It is this scenario, which is actually no speculation but reality, which makes the case for taking all necessary measures to encourage the young – both male and female – to come into agriculture. But it is likely that they will do so only if the sector is made interesting for them: does it make profits without undue back-breaking, backward and demeaning labour? Does it use technologies which challenge those with an education? Is it linked to the modern lifestyles the youth are exposed to in their education? Has risk (or nature and of the market) been moderated? Does it have a “respectable brand” – an image which contemporaries that find jobs in other sectors can respect? 4. These and more questions need to be answered and acted upon; they are among the questions SACAU sought to have investigated when it commissioned a set of reviews in Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe to look at how member unions are dealing with youth engagement in agriculture (alongside a similar look at gender). SACAU secured support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Southern African Trust (SAT) to commission studies on youth and agriculture in five countries (Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The studies used a combination of desk research, field sample surveys, selected interviews of members/management/leaders and others to assess the current status and its determinants of gender imbalance. They considered successes and challenges in dealing with youth in the member organisations. The national reports document challenges and draw attention to efforts to engage youth better. 5. It is worth repeating that Africa can only ensure sustainability of its agriculture if youth engage in the sector. As of now, regrettably most farmers are aging as youth find little to attract them into an economic activity based on back-breaking labour, little infused with modern technologies that can interest and challenge them, subjected to high risks of climate and of unstable markets and often only poorly profitable. The studies which are synthesised hare focused on identifying factors that discourage young men and women into agriculture and which, if reversed, could surmount the problem. The studies ascertained the opinions of young men and women who are farming, those that are at school and those that are looking for jobs where possible. Specifically it enquired about: a. What attracts (could attract) young men and women into farming?

4 b. Are there any specific agriculture enterprises which attract more young people than others? (livestock, crops, horticulture, etc) c. What the youth say about the future and perspective of farming as a career? d. How do the youth characterize and describe agriculture e. What could be the best entry point for young men and women in farming along the value chain (primary production, marketing, processing etc) 6. This synthesis document draws exclusively on the five country papers prepared for SACAU, viz: Ramiaramanana, Daniele (2013): Issues and Challenges in Attracting Young Men and Women in Agriculture - Madagascar Case Study Draft Report; Maliro, Dyton D (June 2013): Youth in Agriculture in Malawi; Goldin, Jacqueline (May 2013): Youth and The Agriculture Sector in South Africa; Mulunga, Monde Matakala (April, 2013): Snap Short Study Report on Involvement of Youths in Farmers’ Organisations in Zambia; and Mabeza-Chimedza, Ruvimbo (Zimbabwe) (May 2013): Challenges Faced in Attracting Young Women and Men into Agriculture. 7. This synthesis report will form the basis for discussion at workshops where SACAU members will identify common issues concerning youth in the region. On the basis of this, SACAU and its membership can extract key messages, derive policy positions and prepare an overall guiding framework for the SACAU secretariat to systematically integrate youth issues in all its interventions at national and regional levels. In specific terms, the following are the two main outcomes expected from the workshop: a. Key messages and policy statements for SACAU in dealing with youth in agriculture, and b. Identify and document key elements and principles of the overall framework for intervention in youth matters for the SACAU secretariat to utilize in planning and programme development. 8. The synthesis starts by communicating key messages derived from the draft reports, and then gives a background to the study, including reference to scope and methodologies. It then presents abbreviated findings extracted from the country studies, with the following as sub-headings: a. State of Play b. What Explains the Low Engagement of Youth in Agriculture? c. What Can Attract Youths More into Farming as a Career? d. What Interventions are Being Tried and can Continue into the Future? e. Selected Questions for Discussion and Decision 9. The stand-alone national study reports carry important details which should be studied individually. This synthesis focuses instead on drawing attention to key messages shared by all or some of the studies.

2. KEY MESSAGES 10. To support discussions on the topic of youth in agriculture, it is useful to bring together in one place key messages that seem to emerge in all or most of the country studies. A glance at Annexes 1 and 2 is instructive: the list of factors cited in country reports as “discouraging youth interest in agriculture” takes up four and a half pages; that on “what can attract youth more” goes only to a page. A frequency count is a “vote” and therefore needs care in use; also, the discouraging factors are admittedly repetitive. However, these caveats cannot explain the degree where they overwhelm the good news by so much. Indeed, a reading of the five country reports shows that even when

5 reporting on what attracts youth, the authors take another opportunity to say what discourages them in the first place.

From the frequency count of discouraging factors, an overwhelming message is that society has failed to connect with the youth in matters of agriculture; the sector is just not appealing to them. Current efforts to engage them are exposing the youth to agriculture in the very form that they despise. For future success, society will almost certainly need to deal with making agriculture an attractive “brand” or face almost certain failure, even where youth have few alternative jobs to go to. Doing this effectively will require deeper understanding of the image problems and separation of symptoms from the underlying causes of agriculture’s image problems.

11. The following main messages emerge: What Discourages Youth: a. Annex 1 shows the remarkable degree of similarity in the reasons for youth in the five countries being uninterested in – and often nearly hostile to agriculture in the five countries studied: b. Most important is the negative image of agriculture: of the four and a half pages of listed discouraging factors, a full two are about negative societal attitudes by the youth themselves but even by their parents. One case mentions that parents educate their children precisely to escape agriculture. Examples of sentiments include:  Farmers are a vulnerable and impoverished group;  Farmers are uneducated, unskilled, physical labourers with extremely low economic return;  The sector is for the elderly, illiterates or people with nothing to do;  Farming is an inferior occupation that is suitable for the uneducated or retirees;  Youths know that agriculture can earn them a living but they only consider it as the last resort when they have tried everything else and they have failed . . . ;  Youth are impatient for speedy returns and farming is not the desirable ‘quick fix’ which agriculture cannot offer;  For many young people farming is seen to be the last option and “its just not my scene”; that “its not in our culture – kids don’t see it as cool”;  . . . . ‘’in this village we are all poor, my father, uncle, even my late grandfather was poor. Why would I want to follow their footsteps and also die poor, tilling the land?  Parents also say that they send their children to school for them to have “better job” than agriculture. c. There is a perception that the sector is risky: from natural calamities to markets that fail or are unstable and bring little profit; d. Youth access to land is problematic – in almost all cases, the land is controlled by old people and inheritance practices tend to restrict benefit to perhaps an oldest. The others have to move out or scramble for small lots of land; female youth may lose even minimal access if they marry an outsider (may be reverse in matrilineal systems);

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e. Access to other resources is also very problematic, especially to funding: if credit, the youth have no track record which banks can trust and no collateral to back up loans; if access to technology, the extension services go to the elderly farmers who own the land; if access to knowledge, schools do not significantly expose them to agriculture. Messages about government and other efforts to support youth are rarely well enough targeted at them for them to access the help; f.

The youth lack technical skills: in some countries, agriculture hardly features in schools. Even those who study agriculture prefer to be technicians advising farmers, not becoming farmers themselves;

g. Government support to youth in the sector is poor and little is targeted at the youth. As an example, from two post land reform Zimbabwean funding initiatives only 4 percent reached youth and women; h. There is a sense of exclusion from sector institutions (including from farmers organisations).

What Interests Youth i.

Section 4.3 of this document summarises the country-derived details under “What Can Attract Youths More into Farming as a Career?” Annex 2 “What Can Attract Youth More Into Agriculture?” gives even more detail. The sentiments of preference are best illustrated by selected quotes from the country reports:  To paraphrase a message in the Malawi report. . . . : “What the youth may require are farming business enterprises with short gestation period or that bring ‘quick money’ with minimal labour intensity and assured markets”. Examples of such include poultry raising, apiculture, piggery, fish farming (Madagascar); horticulture (Malawi); or activities in marketing and processing – not on farm (except horticulture, piggery and poultry) [Zambia];  To quote from the Madagascar study “Most of the young people asked during the interviews and the focus group discussion tended to . . . . link the production mainly with the marketing. However, youth are more willing to go into raw materials trading rather than producing”; and  To quote from the Zambia study “Youths are interested in quick and fast money; agriculture enterprise that takes a long time for them to reap their profits would normally be rejected. Horticulture was the enterprise of their choice because it does not take a long time and youths are able to earn a living all year round through gardening”.

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j.

In cases where land is scarce, preference goes to small livestock, especially poultry which can be raised on practically no land.

Interventions that are Being Tried and can Continue k. In all countries studied, there are efforts driven by concern to correct the current situation. Section 4.4 “What Interventions are Being Tried and can Continue into the Future?” summarises the findings while Annex 3: “Ongoing and Suggested Initiatives to Engage Youth in Agriculture” gives greater detail extracted from the country reports. From these sections can be extracted two elements:  The big challenge area of poor sector image which one expects to demand action to give agriculture a better “brand” is hardly covered by the corrective interventions except in the form of sensitisation campaigns in Madagascar, and  Many ideas floated are for youth to be steered with support into agricultural pursuits that give quick returns and for which markets are also assured, such as through contract farming. How to make these succeed remains a challenge. 12. On the basis of the above and its supportive detail which comprises this synthesis report, a number of questions for discussion and decision are given in section 5. These include what should be highlighted for SACAU Secretariat focus.

3. DEFINING YOUTH 13. It emerges from the five country reports that the selected Southern Africa countries do not have a common definition of “youth”; according to the Zambian report, the United Nations definition is from 15 – 25 years, the Commonwealth Youth programme one is from 15 – 29 years. Each of the southern African countries studied has its own, as follows: a. Madagascar : 15 – 34 years (Malagasy law n°2004-028 on National Youth Policy); b. Malawi : 15-25 years (old national youth policy); 10 – 29 years (draft new National Youth Policy); c. South Africa : 14 – 35 years (National Youth Policy, 2008-2013); d. Zambia : 18 – 35 years 14. The definition details aside, a sobering reality is that Southern Africans are extremely young: for Madagascar, around half (49 percent) of the population is under fifteen years old; in Malawi, 57 percent are below 20 years while 40 percent fall within the 10- 29 year age group; in South Africa at mid-year 2012 estimates give 77.6 percent for people below the age of 35 years and 42 percent between the ages of 14 and 35; in Zambia, 29.6 percent of the year 2000 population was in the age range 15 – 30 years and by 2012, nearly half of Zambians (45.4 percent) were below 15 years.

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15. A second important consideration is the diversity of youth: in all countries there are both rural and urban youths, especially in South Africa. Youth can also be categorised into many other groupings – they should not be treated as homogeneous for purposes of engaging them in agriculture1. As stated by Goldin in her South Africa review, subgroups of youth include (and this is not an exhaustive list): School going youth; Out-of-school youth; Unemployed youth; Employed youth; Rural and urban young men and women; Youth in conflict with the law; Young women; Young people with disabilities; Young men and women heading households; HIV/Aids infected and affected youth, etc.

4. FINDINGS 4.1 State of Play 16. This section carries information related to the following paraphrased elements of the SACAU Terms of Reference to national researcher-authors: To what extent are youth participants in agricultural value-chains?; Which segments are most populated by them? - What are the best entry points for young men and women in farming along the value chain? 17. The country reports made no clear reference to total numbers of youth in agriculture either as wage-earners or own masters/entrepreneurs. This is a critical piece of information and will have to be determined sooner rather than later in order to correctly dimension interventions. There is also very limited indication of how youth numbers compare to the elderly/adult numbers in agriculture. With these broad numbers missing, it is too much to expect breakdown of youth engagement in various segments of the value chain. In all country reports, there is little reference either to numbers or thematically to youth engagement in later segments of the agricultural value chain: processing, storage, marketing and food preparation/sales. The Madagascar report mentions particular preference of youths there for marketing and avoidance when they cold of on-farm production. 18. For Madagascar, the country report says the agricultural sector uses young people as help for the parents as A non paid working force during farming seasons but can also serve as day labourers to earn wages. More often, rural youth move to towns in search of work. The Malawi report quotes a FAO study of 2011 and asserts that agriculture is the main sector for youth employment, employing 91 per cent of young male workers and 96 per cent of young female workers(). 19. Information from the Zambia report covers more the nature of association with agriculture than the numbers. For example, it states that most young women and men who were already farming were forced into it by circumstances that were beyond their control – the majority had been to urban areas unsuccessfully looking for employment. After much suffering they were forced to go back to their villages as they could not survive in urban areas. In the villages, the only option was farming, whether for themselves or as cheap labour to the farming community. Among youths that were not in school yet were employed (they were therefore dependants) they too were forced to participate

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In fact, for certain categories of youth, it may not be worth the effort of attempting to “recruit” them into agriculture at all.

9 in agricultural activities because they were still dependants, even if given a choice they would not be involved in agriculture. 20. From the Zimbabwe report, a key message is a quote of a youth empowerment group leader in a December 2012 “The Zimbabwean” newspaper article, that “At present youth involvement in agriculture is minimal. Deliberate strategies need to be put in place to ensure the youth get involved. Even under the land reform, very few youths benefited and this minimizes our participation in the agricultural sector”. Migration to the cities or to South Africa and Botswana in search of employment is commonplace.

4.2 What Explains the Low Engagement of Youth in Agriculture? 21. This section carries information related to the following paraphrased elements of the SACAU Terms of Reference to national researcher-authors: How do the youth characterize and describe agriculture – Do youth like/dislike agriculture?; What do the youth say about the future and perspective of farming as a career?; What discourages youth from going into agriculture? 22. The detail has been captured in Annex 1 for all five countries; the findings on main causes has been presented in some detail under “Key messages”. To avoid repetition here, it suffices to give the causes in bullet-points format, with the attention of all readers being drawn particularly to Annex 1 where original text from the country reports has been presented (with source country identified) – information has been re-organised under thematic headings with only light editing: a. The poor image of agriculture – a dominant set of hurdles which make young people reluctant to be associated with the sector and to join it only when all other options fail. They do not want their peers to see them in the sector and even their parents pray that their children will not be educated only to end up in agriculture. So severe is the problem that even youth that study agriculture work in the sector not as farmers themselves but as “technicians” giving advice to others. b. A perception that agriculture is risky and therefore there is fear to tread into it: in whatever way youth hear about agriculture or if they know of it from personal exposure in their rural households, they appear to have a mortal fear of failure in a sector exposed to much natural risk (calamities related to drought, floods, pests, diseases etc) and with significant market risks (disorganised markets with unstable demand and prices, late payment by powerful buyers such as supermarkets – a point stressed for Zambia); c. Difficulties in accessing land: firm control by parents makes access to land very difficult. First sons may inherit in many societies and women lose their land rights upon marriage (reverse in matrilineal societies). Modern land purchase from the open market could solve the problem but youth have no capital; d. Poor access to other resources: production inputs, infrastructure, equipment, but mostly funding, including through credit. Youth having no track-record of funding use and with little collateral can hardly borrow from banks. Government funds dedicated to the cause of youth

10 development is potentially usable for agriculture but they often do not know about the funds and if they do, have no skills in preparing project proposals etc e. Lack of technical skills: school curricula are often deficient in agriculture and certainly the way it is covered cannot excite a passion for a career in the sector. Once they leave school, opportunities for formal or “mentoring” type training are also few. And not many are accompanied with assistance (funding, equipment etc) to start up a farm. South Africa has the latter in theory but the programmes are stillborn since they were created. As stated earlier, even youth that are trained in agriculture have a mindset of being public sector extension agents and not becoming farmers themselves (a point stressed by Madagascar and Malawi). f.

Other discouraging factors and the primacy of sector “image/brand”: the Annex 1 list also includes lack of employment opportunities, lack of/ inadequate government support and feeling of exclusion from sector institutions (including farmers’ organisations). These may or may not be significant issues: the reality is that when the mindset is already negative, any small hurdle will be seized upon as a reason for not moving forward. The point has accordingly been stressed in the “Key Messages” that focus should be on improving the image or “brand” of agriculture; if this is not done, much energy can go into all sorts of interventions but to little avail. It is a case of leading a horse to water but the horse not drinking if it does not wish to.

4.3 What Can Attract Youths More into Farming as a Career? 23. This section carries information related to the following paraphrased elements of the SACAU Terms of Reference to national researcher-authors: What attracts (could attract) young men and women into farming?; Are there any specific agriculture enterprises which attract more young people than others? (livestock, crops, horticulture, etc)?; What could be the best entry point for young men and women in farming along the value chain (primary production, marketing, processing etc)? 24. This subject on what can attract youth better has also been amply presented under “Key messages” above; it is also given in detail in Annex 2 (What can attract youth more into agriculture?). A key observation made earlier is that there have been so much fewer suggestions under this than under what discourages youth. This may reflect genuine lack of ideas both by the youth and by those who are concerned for them, including the farmers’ organisations. In fact there are only two main messages: a. That youth should be steered towards those fields of agriculture where financial returns are quick (poultry, piggery, horticulture etc) or towards segments of the value chain where this is also the case: marketing, some types of processing. b. Having steered youth to quick returns (which may give them a false image of the sector), the problem becomes how to fund their investment. No clear suggestions have been made for this. All sorts of funds by governments, with or without concessional interest rates, have been tried – but agriculture competes with less disadvantaged (i.e. more attractive) sectors – how can it get its full share? There seem to be no effective information channels for youth to know about such funds and when they do, there is no help to prepare project proposals etc.

11 25. It deserves attention that the two main areas of potential support above both do not fully address the Section 4.2 sector-image issues that so dominated reasons for not going into agriculture.

4.4 What Interventions are Being Tried and can Continue into the Future? 26. This section carries information related to the following elements, only some of which are paraphrased from the SACAU Terms of Reference to national researcher-authors: Is agriculture on their career radar? What could be the best entry point for young men and women in farming along the value chain (primary production, marketing, processing etc)? 27. As for the preceding section, this subject has been amply presented under “Key messages”; it is also given in detail in Annex 3 (Ongoing and Suggested Initiatives to Engage Youth in Agriculture) where suggestions are recorded by country. The following types of intervention emerge: a. The big challenge area of poor sector image which one expects to demand action to give agriculture a better “brand” is hardly covered by the initiatives except in the form of sensitisation campaigns in Madagascar; b. There are proposals for avoiding the land problem through youth migration into settlements (Madagascar) where they could also receive infrastructural, training, credit and inputs support etc; c. There are many interventions on training but it is unclear whether after being trained other material support comes so that the beneficiaries can immediately put knowledge to practice and see the income benefits at end of season before the training is forgotten; d. Youth funds are mentioned and the need for support structures so that youth know about them and are coached in how to apply etc has been raised; e. Ideas have been floated for youth to be steered with support into agricultural pursuits with quick returns but where markets are also assured, such as through contract farming.

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5. SELECTED QUESTIONS FOR DICUSSION AND DECISION 28. A review of the reports from country assessments reveals that the issue of gender balance and of women being enabled to rise to prominent management positions has received far more systematic thought and action than that of engaging youth in agriculture. 29. Given that under the latter subject (youth in agriculture) the very future of agriculture is at stake, SACAU members may wish to ask themselves how best to inject more energy into this question. Apart from this umbrella question however, the following could be among the questions to discuss, with the hope of making decisions for future action: a. At the centre of the challenge in engaging youth appears to be mindsets and negative attitudes which see the sector image only in bad light, both by the youth themselves and by broader society. How best can the farmer organisation community contribute systematically to understanding the underlying causes of these strong attitudes (separating symptoms from causes) and what partnerships should it forge with governments, youth groups, investors in the sector and others to make a difference for the better? b. Given that many efforts are already underway to engage youth and especially to open windows for financing them into agricultural pursuits, how can the farmer organisation community systematically help to draw the attention of youth to opportunities and how best can it help them prepare funding proposals that are bankable? [e.g. Is the farmer organisation community willing to serve as conduit for such funding? Or what role could the FOs play in assisting youth to prepare such proposals?] c. Among the proposals for attracting youth into farming, a frequent suggestion is to help them take up “quick money” pursuits by focusing on products that mature quickly. Yet much of agriculture essential to food security and large-scale prosperity cannot be done as a quick fix. What can be done to sell agriculture as it truly is, given that youth should not pick only the easiest opportunities if they are to inherit responsibility for sector development? d. Youth are diverse and attempting to uplift all or to interest all in agriculture can disperse energy too thinly. What basis can be used for targeting efforts for best prospects of success? e. What should SACAU as a support mechanism for its membership focus on, including in following up the first set of exploratory studies on Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe? f.

The role of technology and making agriculture profitable to attract the youth; identification of profitable ventures in agricultural value chains and introducing the youth to such enterprises; critical role of Farmers’ Organization in exposing the youth to technologies in agriculture that can attract the youth; roles in presenting the sector in a way that can interest youth who consider themselves modern.

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LIST OF SACAU-COMMISSIONED NATIONAL REPORTS Ramiaramanana, Daniele (2013): Issues and Challenges in Attracting Young Men and Women in Agriculture - Madagascar Case Study Draft Report Maliro, Dyton D (June 2013): Youth in Agriculture in Malawi Goldin, Jacqueline (May 2013): Youth and The Agriculture Sector in South Africa Mulunga, Monde Matakala (April, 2013): Snap Short Study Report on Involvement of Youths in Farmers’ Organisations in Zambia Mabeza-Chimedza, Ruvimbo (Zimbabwe) (May 2013): Challenges Faced in Attracting Young Women and Men into Agriculture

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ANNEXES

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Annex 1: FACTORS CITED AS DISCOURAGING THE INTEREST OF YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE

Country Madagascar

Discouraging Factor POOR IMAGE OF AGRICULTURE/SOCIETAL ATTITUDES Farmers are seen as a vulnerable and impoverished group. Out of the 87 young students interviewed, only 7 are interested in agriculture or livestock farming. They prefer to work in public services, such as education, military, health or be involved in trading activities. Agriculture is an ageing and undervalued profession for which young people’s interest is declining. Young men and women have a negative perception of a career in agriculture. For them, farmers are uneducated, and unskilled physical labourers with extremely low economic return. For the young people, farming is not an occupation but is related to a social group generating a social status. Young men and women want to have an easier life and think that farming is not only a hard and difficult job but conveys a very poor image of the rural communities; “Parents also say that they send their children to school for them to have “better job” [than agriculture]. Low income generation was often said to be a reason to discourage them. A young lady studying at a secondary school in Madagascar stated “. . . why should I do farming, if my parents did that for long time and never had secure enough income to feed our family? I prefer to work as teacher in a public school and I will get salary every month without any worry” . . . .

Malawi

Historical perceptions around agriculture among many Malawians have been that the sector is for the elderly, illiterates or people with nothing to do.

16 Country S. Africa

Discouraging Factor . . . “I have Grade 9 and I have attended quite a number of training and workshops but I just cannot find work…all the work I got so far are temporary … But I would not willingly want to become a farmer, but if I must then I will have to try it some or other time… though I am more into social development issues, how to uplift our community. ..“ We hear from young people that “its not in our culture – kids don’t see it as cool”. Youth are critical of the older generation who have chosen farming as a way of life but who are still struggling to get out of poverty. For many young people farming is seen to be the last option and ‘its just not my scene’. According to one young farmer ‘traditionally farming has been done by [large-scale white] farmers and blacks have been the source of labour to these farms … this has left a bitter pill to some being engaged in agriculture’. Youth are impatient for speedy returns and farming is not the desirable ‘quick fix’. Negative Perceptions of agriculture especially farming – due to the historical past some of the parents of the youth today were labourers and the issues of human rights in regards to fair labour practices payment etc such perceptions still linger and are a hindrance to some in venturing in agriculture AgriSA believes that “. . . the changing national economic landscapes where there are trendy professions elsewhere appear to be the driving force behind the lack of youths interested in agriculture.”

Zambia

90 percent of the respondents were children of farmers and their school fees were being paid from farming. Even with such experience their opinion of agriculture was still very low - youths know that agriculture can earn them a living but they only consider it as the last resort when they have tried everything else and they have failed ... A male youth: ‘’in this village we are all poor, my father, uncle, even my late grandfather was poor. Why would I want to follow their footsteps and also die poor, tilling the land? I’m just waiting for an opportunity to do something more rewarding, my brother has promised to help’’. Youths who are still in school said they lack interest in agriculture because the curriculum is not packaged attractively e.g. no ICTs etc.

17 Country Zimbabwe

Discouraging Factor The general perceptions held on agriculture by young people are that it is an inferior occupation that is suitable for the uneducated or retirees. Most of them are disillusioned by what they see as the limited rewards earned through agriculture.

Madagascar

S. Africa

POOR ACCESS TO LAND OR CONTROL OVER IT The lowland rice fields, main source of income, are given to the eldest son by the parents to be cultivated; the other children share the remaining pieces of land. When the female children get married and move to the husband’s village, they lose access to their parents’ land. Young people feel government is not doing enough to redistribute the agreed 30% of productive agricultural land from white commercial farmers to emerging black commercial farmers. Land is not readily available for young people.

Zambia

Young women are marginalized traditionally where cultures dictate that women cannot inherit nor own land. The young women can’t develop infrastructure and the technology needed to run the farm Difficult to access titled land

Zimbabwe

Limited access to land - where land is scarce and controlled by the older generation.

Madagascar

POOR ACCESS TO OTHER RESOURCES Although, various financial institutions are located in different regions of Madagascar, access to credit is still a major challenge for the farmers, particularly women and rural youth. The farmers find that without collateral, it is very difficult to obtain credit and interest rates are very high (around 2.5% per month).

Malawi

Unconducive bank lending environment- regardless of how good and viable business plans presented by young people, banks are not willing to give loans unless their demands for collaterals that young people do not have are met.

S. Africa

Access to funding – new entrants are deemed as high risks to funding institution since they have no collateral.

Zambia

. . . . “There isn’t support for farmers. We don’t get tractors, fertilisers, seeds and we can’t do anything without some finances and without farming equipment. . . “ Lack of appropriate technology No incentives that would attract them into agriculture; Few institutions offering affordable micro financing not demanding collateral

18 Country Zimbabwe

Madagascar

S. Africa

Zimbabwe

Madagascar

Discouraging Factor Limited access to credit - Access to credit by rural youth involved in agriculture has always been difficult because of physical and institutional barriers. Historically young women and men have been denied access to credit partly because of not having established track records with lending institutions and also because of not having direct access to productive resources.

PERCEPTION OF NATURAL RISKS – CALAMITIES Agricultural yields are generally uncertain, as weather, pests and diseases and other production calamities impact on farm output. From a successful young farmer . . . . : “… agriculture is a high risk low return business,. . . . the youth tend to be put off by the risks involved as well as the uncertainty with regards to the land reform process and other legislations governing land ownership. . . “ Shocks such as adverse weather conditions, substantial fluctuations in input prices and cost of capital have affected negatively the country’s agricultural production and have negatively affected the young people. PERCEPTION OF RISKY MARKETS - POOR OR UNSTABLE Price uncertainty due to market fluctuations is particularly significant where market information is lacking. This challenge discourages the young people to do farming. Making profit from agriculture is difficult to achieve for them.

Malawi

Unreliability of formal markets/big supermarkets –while super markets can be a good market under contracts, they are nevertheless not the best so far due to delays in payments. This makes him opt for vendors who pay cash on delivery

Zimbabwe

Shocks such as substantial fluctuations in input prices and cost of capital have negatively affected the country’s agricultural production and have negatively affected the young people.

Madagascar

Zambia

LIMITED JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN SECTOR Even students from agriculture schools plan to work as technicians later; they are not keen to become farmers. [The main reason given by the interviewees is that farmers do not have a secure income and with afore mentioned types of occupations, it is easier to get secure income and wages]. Few job opportunities for educated youths; Students further said they are limited job opportunities for agriculture graduates.

19 Country Madagascar

Discouraging Factor LACK OF TECHNICAL SKILLS Young people in rural areas, especially the women, are often disadvantaged with low level of technical skills, due to the lack of education. There is the issue of increasing illiteracy of the young from 14 to 24 years old, more than 40% (from UNESCO study 2011).

Malawi

The education system - Malawi has a number of agricultural training institutions which emphasize on graduating young people to work with farmers and not as farmers themselves

S. Africa

Agricultural skills are not introduced at the school level and young people do not consider agriculture as a way out of poverty Most of the youth who may aspire to come into agriculture are put off due to lack of training in any agricultural related issues hence lack of interest from the youth. Mentorship – the youth have a lack of mentors and role models to encourage them into agriculture.

Zambia

Madagascar

“. . . The older people in agriculture are not exemplary to the youth. There is a lack of mentoring, support, leadership – its not just about dumping funding to the farmers. There should be introduction of new technologies and practical things.. . . “ Lack of knowledge on viable agriculture business, agricultural management and marketing skills

LACK OF OR POOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT Less than 5% of the Malagasy national budget is allocated to this sector, which provide job for approximately 75% of the population. The agricultural policies tend to forget the importance of the youth inclusion.

Malawi

Zimbabwe

Misplaced government priorities – young people contribute greatly in farming but government has so far promoted non-agriculture youth programmes such as ‘technical skills’ programmes for artisans, painting a picture that artisan work is more attractive than farming. Weak policy and institutional framework - The current policy framework adopted for the youth in agriculture cuts across multiple Ministries policies are not coordinated and this reduces their impact.

20 Country S. Africa

Discouraging Factor EXCLUSION BY AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTIONS There are ten members on AgriSA’s executive committee but none of these is a youth. There is no specific youth policy in the organization. There is very little black representation at the annual AgriSA Congress.

Zambia

In ZNFU, youth activities are combined with gender resulting in the latter being overshadowed by gender activities

21

Annex 2: WHAT CAN ATTRACT YOUTH MORE INTO AGRICULTURE? Country Madagascar

Factors Cited as Attractive to Youth In farming, young men and women are more interested in poultry raising, apiculture, piggery farming, fish farming from which they can get income faster. The less land is available, the more they (youth) are driven to chose livestock production, especially poultry

Malawi

Youth can be attracted into farming not only because they have no formal jobs but because of prospects for higher incomes/returns in the sector relative to formal employment for same qualifications/grade and capacities. What the youth may require are farming business enterprises with short gestation period or that bring ‘quick money’ with minimal labour intensity (mechanised farming) and assured markets (contract farming). Examples: (a) cotton production and processing; (b) Soya beans processing; (c) coffee production and processing; (d) livestock farming – especially chicken; (d) aquaculture and fisheries; and (e) agricultural training and consultancy services. Horticulture because of shortness of the production cycles and availability of ready markets.

Zambia

Youth prefer entry point higher up the agricultural value chain; when asked: 45 percent of the respondents opted for marketing; 45 percent thought processing; less than 10 percent suggested primary production. The following findings on what could attract young women and men into farming were suggested:  Mechanised farming  Improved information, communication and technology (ICT)  Readily available loans and grants with limited collateral demands  Market information systems for agricultural products  Developed marketing systems  Availability of titled land and irrigation systems  Improved road network to farming areas  Training in business skills youth in agriculture  Adequate extension and technical services  Agricultural job opportunities specifically for youths (job reservation?)

22

Annex 3: ONGOING AND SUGGESTED INITIATIVES TO ENGAGE YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE Country Madagascar

Initiatives Cited to Engage Youth ACCESS TO LAND, INPUTS AND SUPPORT SERVICES There is a need to migrate in order to have access to land and other natural resources especially in areas highly populated. Access to resources and inputs: Malagasy government started to implement a new set of technical and financial tools a few years ago. They have created the CSA (centre de services agricoles) to give technical support to individuals or groups of farmers and also the FRDA (fonds de développement regional agricole) to facilitate not only access to equipment and inputs but also credit. In September 2010, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Land Planning implemented a programme called “Titre vert” or green title. The objectives were to increase the cultivated area and the production, and to reduce youth unemployment. 550 hectares were allocated to young men and young women from the 22 regions of Madagascar interested in investing in farming. At the beginning of the programme, the Ministry of Agriculture gave some support like seeds, soil preparation, fertilizers, construction of dams, houses and food. However, because of different challenges faced by the young agricultural entrepreneurs, such as no drinking water, insecurity, some of them decided to return to their families; in Bongolova region, 60 young people from one site decided to go back home. Strong recommendation to provide funding for youth because they have more ability to do such activities because they are more educated than their illiterate parents.

Malawi

One agricultural teacher’s view (who is also a practicing farmer): Instead of full time farming, combining a formal job and part time farming may be attractive. One teacher in the sector (who is also a practicing farmer) suggests that young people can be attracted into full time farming if  mechanised farming were a policy priority in the country;  contract farming was fully regularized and prioritised because of assured market;  the youth to go into on-farm production as an entry point because it takes low capital investment compared to entry points such as processing; and  the youth were encouraged into short-cycle production lines such as chickens which give quick and relatively good capital returns.

23 Country S. Africa

Initiatives Cited to Engage Youth Three prominent initiatives to attract youth into the agricultural value chain have been introduced since 1994, none of which have been institutionalized nor are they operational:  ‘Agriculture Youth Development Initiative for South Africa (1998)’  ‘Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development (YARD 2008)’ and  ‘Department of Land Affairs Youth Empowerment Strategy of 2008’. Together with training and acquisition of skills for farming in rural areas, provide them with the support needed to become farmers.

Zambia

Youth Development Funds – in Zambia Ministry of Youth and Sports started such a fund, open to all sectors. Agriculture must be promoted to get its due share, currently ranging from 3 to 36 percent, according to district. [Majority of youth in the study sites did not know about this fund. Some said if they had known about the fund and if ZNFU was willing to help them write project proposals they would have attempted to apply for agriculture related ventures]. According to one youth: We need help as youths in rural areas. We do not get such vital information, we also need assistance to apply for such funds, the procedures and the language used is very advanced.

Zimbabwe

Madagascar

ZFU is supporting numerous initiatives to develop capacity of young farmers who are no longer in school and are part of its membership;

TRAINING AND PRACTICAL SKILLS BUILDING Skills building: In collaboration with “Maison Familiale Rurale”, which is an NGO, agricultural colleges were built in 13 rural areas of Madagascar. Young men and women, who stopped studying after their primary school, are allowed to register in this type of school. Support young people’s careers by coaching processes.

Malawi

Both in schools and for post-school youths: use Junior Farmers Field and Life Skill (JFFLS) training: imparts agricultural skills through learning by doing.

S. Africa

Youth have expressed their willingness to co-operate with training and acquisition of skills for farming and we strongly recommend the roll out of a focused training programme in rural areas that can appeal to young people and provide them with the support needed to become farmers.

Zambia

The group that needs to be sensitized are the school going. They have a lot of energy and they are still dreaming of conquering the world, such energy need to be diverted into agriculture activities. Youths who are still in school said they lack interest in agriculture because the curriculum is not packaged attractively e.g. no ICTs etc.

24 Country Zimbabwe

Initiatives Cited to Engage Youth ZFU is forming partnerships with fertilizer manufacturers to revive and establish Young Farmers Clubs in schools. Under the partnership, companies extend seed and fertiliser to students at selected schools while ZFU agronomists provide technical advice; ZFU partnered with GIZ to implement a pilot project that is meant to cultivate interest in agriculture among school children Having included youth into its elective governance structures at all levels, ZFU is strengthening their effectiveness in the decision making structures by providing them with training in leadership skills and is making concerted efforts to secure funds to support them in structures at all levels.

Madagascar

SENSITISATION AND ADVCACY AMONG YOUTH Reinforce sensitization campaign targeting youth to change the attitude towards farming and increase youth participation in the agricultural sector: tolls like mass media or peer to peer exchange could be efficient. Promote agricultural occupations via communication campaign on jobs: agriculture in Madagascar still offer jobs, students in this field are sure to be recruited (example the case of the students coming from ESITPA: apiculture, who get jobs rapidly). Agricultural sector also have large choices of occupations.

Malawi

SACAU INTERVENTIONS NEEDED Help the member organizations in creating youth visibility and participation in all aspects of the organizations (e.g. leadership structures at all levels) (current focus is on women). Develop specific long term youth programmes, building on the FAO Junior Farmers Project concept, that can help to influence career choices into farming among the youth. Provide common definition and understandings of who the “youth” are – definitions now differ. Help member organizations to lobby for government policies and programmes for youth start-up capital (sometimes start-up funds but agriculture does not feature or is not prioritised).

S. Africa

that AgriSA and SACAU turn their attention to schools so as to bring agricultural skills to young learners. Competitions are helpful vehicles for SACAU and AgriSA and they can change the image of farming for young people.

25

Annex 4: SELECTED DATA TABLES

Table A4.1: MADAGASCAR - Young interviewees’ ideas on the specific agriculture enterprises that would attract them Total for Haute Matsiatra and Analamanga Farming Activity Types Women

Men

TOTAL

Apiculture Poultry farming Poultry and piggery farming Poultry and rice farming Huiles essentielles (Essential oils) Fish Farming Piggery farming Piggery and dairy cow farming Rice farming Rice and dairy cow farming Dairy cow farming Poultry and dairy cow production Poultry and fruit farming Fruit farming Poultry and vegetables farming Vegetables and piggery farming Maize and piggery production Rice and piggery production Vegetables and dairy cow farming Others

1 9 1 6 0 1 6 1 3 6 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3

0 3 0 0 1 1 6 2 12 4 5 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 0 0

1 12 1 6 1 2 12 3 15 10 8 1 1 1 2 2 1 4 1 3

TOTAL

43

44

87

% Women

26 Table A4.2: MADAGASCAR -Youth Responses regarding reasons why they are not willing to do farming (from small survey done in Alakamisy Ambohimaha and in Analamanga regions) Youth reasons for not wanting to farm

Gender of Youth Female

%

Male

%

TOTAL

Access to land

11

8

19

Low income generation

26

20

46

Negative view on farming

18

17

35

Other choices available

18

10

28

External constraints (climate, pest and diseases, insecurity)

5

8

13

Difficulty to access resources (financial, equipment…)

12

13

25

Market issues

2

6

8

Lack of technical skills

13

12

25

TOTAL

105

94

199

%

Box A4.1: ZAMBIA – Agriculture Shares Under Ministry of Youth and Sports Youth Development Funds On 30th August, 2012 the Zambian Minister of Youth and Sports unveiled the YDF aimed at empowering the youth with finances and capacity building through the revolving fund and grant support. Specific objectives of the fund are to provide financial assistance to youth development organisations and groups, to promote social well-being of the youth and to promote talent identification and development among the youth. Analysis of the approved projects revealed the following in each province:  Muchinga out of 25 projects nine or 36 percent were farming,  Northern out of 25 projects seven or 28 percent were poultry,  Western out of 22 projects six or 27 percent were farming and poultry,  North Western out of 19 projects five or 26 percent were poultry,  Southern out of 12 projects three or 25 percent poultry,  Central out of 36 projects eight or 22 percent were farming and poultry,  Luapula out of 19 projects four or 21 percent were farming and poultry,  Copperbelt out of 36 projects five or 14 percent were farming,  Eastern out of 23 projects two or 9 percent were farming,  Lusaka out of 63 projects two or 3 percent were farming, Majority of youth in the study sites did not know about this fund. Some said if they had known about the fund and ZNFU was willing to help them write project proposals they would have attempted to apply for agriculture related ventures. The youths who were already involved in agriculture expressed sadness with some saying: ‘’ I have lost an opportunity. We need help as youths in rural areas. We do not get such vital information, we also need assistance to apply for such funds, the procedures and the language used is very advanced. ZNFU can help us on such as some of us we are willing to expand our fields if given necessary help’’ (FGD data 2013).