Challenges Facing youth participation in agriculture in Africa

1. Youth and the challenges of food
security in Africa
Katindi Sivi Njonjo
On behalf of Dr. Cream Wright

2. 1. The food concept
• Food is interpreted more broadly as:
- routinely consumed traditional/local foods
(staples)
- modern/foreign” foods imported and consumed
in Africa
- food produced in Africa mainly for export
- foods not produced or consumed in Africa.
• The food concept should beyond what is
produced and consumed
• Food is whatever provides good nutrition

3. 2. Food security concept
• Food security is conceived as entailing more than food
production. It is also about:
- Available choices based on nutritional
diversity, flexibility, and substitution.
- Accessibility in the right quantities, to the right
populations, at the right time.
- Embracing many inter-related occupations that help to
make nutritious foods available on an affordable and
sustainable basis.
• It is therefore significantly about activities in a complex
network/chain of occupations that influence
sustainable access to food.

4. Food
production
Processing
Preservation
and storage
Packaging
Transportatio
n and
distribution
Pricing /
sales and
marketing
Preparation
and
consumption
Nutrition and
health aspects
of food
Inter-related
occupations of
food security

5. Food production
Subsistence farming
• Food production in Africa depends on smallholder
farmers engaged in subsistence agriculture.
• This pattern of smallholder farming is regarded as
primitive and routinely criticized as the main reason for
food insecurity
• It has proven problematic to significantly shift food
production in Africa from smallholders to large scale
commercial farming.
• It may therefore be prudent to embrace the reality of
smallholder production, rather than continue to treat it
as a weakness that must be changed.
• IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development)
has argued that smallholders can feed the world

6. Inequality
• Typically smallholders are rural folks without a high level of formal
education, but who have access to land and have mastered the
practices of traditional farming.
• The educated population in Africa is engaged with food mainly in
terms of making policy, providing technical advice, dealing with
export marketing and consuming.
• This has created imbalances and between those who produce food
on the one hand, and those who make policy, provide inputs or
consume and trade in food on the other hand.
• To build on smallholder production Africa needs to redress these
imbalances and inequalities that influence the role of various
population groups in enhancing food security.
Poverty
• Subsidized inputs, technical support and higher producer prices are
necessary but not sufficient to transform smallholder farmers from
poverty.
• This is one reason why poor rural households invest in the education
of their children; so they can escape smallholder food production in
its current unattractive state.

7. Consumption and nutrition
• The African food and nutrition basket is sizeable and richly varied. This
suggests potential flexibility in what Africans can eat, so food shortages
can be mitigated through choice and substitution.
• Although there is an abundant variety of edible nutrition resources, Africa
has confined itself to consuming a relatively narrow range of foods.
• “Trend-setters” influence tastes and consumer habits
Mix and match
• African countries need to balance food exports, which are critical for GDP
and foreign exchange earnings; with food production for local
consumption, which is essential for national development.
• It requires “smart producers” who can mix-and-match what they produce
or switch between food for export and food for the local market.
• With appropriate education and training such “smart producers” can make
this into a systematic process to address food security, in line with global
and local market trends and other factors such as incentives to produce
staples.

8. Food wastage
• In African countries, wastage happens mainly at the
production stage due to inefficient crop protection
and poor harvesting practices
• African countries need to prepare successive cohorts
of educated and trained food producers with the
right knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to
transform the smallholder landscape.

9. Food Processing/Preservation/Storage
Food wastage
• A major concern for food security is food loss or wastage at various stages
from production to consumption. A recent study estimates that globally
between 30% and 50% of the four billion metric tonnes of food produced
annually is wasted and not consumed
• In the developed world wastage tends to be at the post-production stage
(points of sale and households) due to standards about freshness and expiry
dates, as well as affluent consumption patterns.
• In Africa, there is lack of adequate means of processing, preserving and
storing the food that is produced. Methods of processing, preserving and
storing food are still largely based on traditional practices rather than
modern scientific processes, which reduces the post-harvest life of perishable
foods.
• This requires investment to prepare a new breed of practitioners, who will
research, adapt and apply such modern techniques and practices to food
processing, preservation and storage.

10. Food Packaging/Transporting/Distributing
• As part of food security, packaging not only helps to protect and
preserve food but also makes it easier to handle, transport and
store food efficiently.
• It also has the potential to present food in an attractive way to
consumers, as well as to convey nutrition information and other
data to support decisions on purchasing and consuming the right
food products.
• Similarly the quality of transport and other trade-related
infrastructure is critical for local food security as well as for the
export of food commodities and agricultural trade performance.
• This requires investment to prepare a new breed of
practitioners, who will play the vital function

11. Food Pricing/Marketing
• A growing paradox about food pricing in Africa is that it can be
cheaper and more reliable to buy imported food products rather
than locally produced food.
• Frozen chicken imported from Europe is more readily available and
cheaper in many West African countries, than chicken from local
poultry farms. But African poultry farms may be able to exploit the
organic label or other niche categories that can help with
differential pricing for the local market or for export.
• There is also scope to develop ostrich farming or livestock in sheep
and goats, to provide for meat consumption in the African market
in a way that can compete with subsidized imports.
• It will take empowered practitioners to engage in the best forms of
production to deal with this issue of differential pricing and
affordability of locally produced food in the local market.

12. Food Preparation/Consumption
• An inordinate amount of time is spent on food preparation in Africa, which is a
constraint on the productive time and quality of life experiences of women and
girls particularly.
• Most foods purchased by households are in a natural or as-harvested state,
with little pre-processing that would reduce the time spent on preparing and
serving food.
• Some progress is being made with the involvement of external food giants
(Cadbury and “Poundo Yam” in Nigeria) as well as with increasing use of
technology to enhance traditional processing practices (processing cassava
into “gari” in West Africa).
• Much more work needs to be done on pre-processing of foods (vegetables,
fish, meats, cereals, etc.), so the preparation time required before cooking and
serving is optimized.
• This is also about making sure the nutrients of the food concerned are not
compromised as a result of pre-processing.
• There are opportunities to enhance the nutritional value of foods with
additives that can be introduced during the pre-processing stage.

13. Nutrition/Health Aspects
• Food is a source of essential nutrition for a
healthy and satisfying lifestyle.
• This dimension of the food equation is gaining
importance and influencing consumer choices
throughout the world, as well as pricing
policies.
• Empowered practitioners in Africa can find
ways to exploit this new reality to benefit
home consumption as well as exports.

14. Conclusion
• The message from analysis of these food-related
occupations is that Africa needs “new breed”
practitioners to transform food security on the
continent.
• Production cannot continue to depend on ageing and
disadvantaged rural households with farmers who have
not had the benefit of appropriate education and
training.
• The continent cannot continue to import
processed/preserved foods, whilst local foods perish
for lack of modern processing and preservation. There
needs to be a succession of youths to explore modern
techniques and combine them with traditional
practices to process and preserve food for longer
market life and to avoid wastage.

15. 3. Asset vs. deficit model
• Third, whilst acknowledging weaknesses and threats
(deficits) that affect food security in Africa, the focus is on
the strengths and opportunities (assets) that African
countries can harness and exploit to promote food security.
• The main concerns then are: what advantages does Africa
have? How can these be utilized? What are the
policies, strategies and investments that can best support
or facilitate successful implementation?
• Africa is estimated to encompass fifty percent of the
world’s agricultural land. It has enough water, and favorable
climates to feed itself

16. 5. Talent academies
• “Talent Academies” with appropriate
content, pedagogy, mentoring, and the type of
governance that will support learners to acquire new
knowledge, skills and attitudes in food security.
• Paper argues that there is a need to cultivate a new
breed of young food practitioners for sustainable
progress.
• paper further explores new “education and training
pathways” for youths to acquire and use the
knowledge, skills, attitudes and resources needed to
transform food security in Africa.
• “human resource” changes are critical for success.

17. Talent academies
Aspiration
principle
Compensation
principle
Selection
principle

18. 1. First there is the Selection Principle, which stipulates
that young people are selected into a Talent Academy
based strictly on their talent (proven or latent) in the
broad field
2. Second is the Aspiration Principle, which makes clear
that the “sky is the limit” for the young people enrolled
in the TA. This is not about training young people for
specific and circumscribed jobs, as is the case with
TVET institutions.
3. Third there is the Compensation Principle, through
which young people receive lessons to compensate for
those basic knowledge and skills that are essential pre-
requisites for successful learning in the TA, but which
they may not have acquired earlier.

19. Guidelines on Planning Food-Related Talent
Academies:
1. Should preferably be established on a regional
basis (ECOWAS, SADC, EAC)
2. Integrate a combination of students with
interests in a range of food-related occupations.
This will encourage cross-fertilization of
ideas, exchange of skills and sharing of
experiences relating to all stages of the food
security chain.
3. Practical centers in order to facilitate the hands-
on practice aspect of their learning-and-practice
focus.
4. Talent Academies should have “Incubation
Hubs” for graduating students who wish to

20. 5 . Pedagogy in these talent academies should be geared to:
- finding out what already exists and how it can be adapted to
the African context;
- Investigating local and traditional practices with a view to
upgrading and enhancing them;
- Developing basic skills and competencies in a variety of
occupation-related activities along the food security chain;
- Developing knowledge and skills relating to the science,
technology, economics, marketing and ethics of the food
business in Africa;
6. Using a modular structure and integrated or inter-disciplinary
curriculum content.
7. Invest in key innovations from the talent academies…also
invest proper design and operation of the initial institutions.

21. My take

22. Demographics
• Sub Saharan Africa has the world’s fastest growing population
and the youngest.
• By 2050 the subcontinent, with its projected 1.7 billion
people, will be the second most populous region in the
world, after South Asia, and the only region in which the rural
population will still be growing.
• Between 2010 and 2050 other regions will experience a
significant decrease in rural population (which will fall by 50
percent in East Asia, 45 percent in Europe, and 10 percent in
South Asia), while Africa south of the Sahara will add an
estimated 150 million people in rural areas (an increase of
nearly 30 percent).

24. Labour
• The young people yet to be born are in addition
to the 330 million already present and about to
enter the labor force, of whom 195 million live in
rural areas.
• The nexus between the youth dividend has the
agriculture has the potential to give food security
to Africa
Reproduction
• Majority of the population are at the peak of
their reproduction. 15-29 year olds are
responsible for about 70% of the children born
every year in Africa (many of whom are not
planned for). The reproductive choices this youth
make will be critical to food security

25. Increase in population density
• Population increase will inevitably increase the population density
thus encroaching on farm land and increasing food insecurity
• Population increase also put pressure on land which affects food
production
• A high population will also increase the demand for natural resources
such as water and land thus aggravating food insecurity and increasing
resource conflicts
• Land subdivision into even smaller portions

26. Youth aspirations
• Get rich quick – I would rather live a good short life than a long miserable
life ..can agriculture make me money especially because it is associated
with dirt, poverty and lack of dignity
• Live in cities – westernization and colonization of the mind
Coffee farms turned into real estate e.g. Tatu & Thika Greens
• To work in manufacturing and in the service industries which have low
absorption capacities.
• Agriculture taken up by older youth as the last option (as we wait for better
opportunities to show up). USAID fund
• Education – Agriculture is relegated to these so-called “vocational”
occupations which are perceived as a programme for failures . Africa cannot
seriously address food security through the efforts of reluctant producers.
• Agric scrapped from high school…….potential farmers do not really know
how to start

27. Time poor
• The patience to wait for food to grow is not there
Land ownership
• Inheritance of land,
• The value of land (unimportant)
Access to capitalization
• Security, perception of loans, non repayment
• YEDP, USAID
Technology
• Youth leading inventions useful or farming but in Africa. ‘I cow’
• Research and innovation is underfunded and failure to invest in
science and technology risks uncompetitiveness in the global
market, and unable to feed their populations.
Food pricing
• High food prices are forcing youth to choose what is affordable

28. In-virto
Insects
Food pills
• Food among youth not about Nutrition. Obesity is a “guilt-bug”
that infects excessive consumption, greed and glutton on the part
of the rising middle class in Africa as they adopt unhealthy “fast
food” habits.
• This should inform what we should be growing now… maize is the
staple food for Africans but will it be in the next 10-20 years?
Trend: How will the next dinner plate look like

29. Conclusions
• There is a need for more innovative and
youth-centered approaches to promote and
sustain food security.
Thank You!