Africa | Agriculture and self-employment for youth unemployed

Unemployment among young people in Africa is increasingly recognised as a first order development challenge. Coming on the heels of sustained investment in education and unprecedented but largely jobless economic growth, the possibility of a ‘lost generation’ of young people, for whom meaningful and rewarding work is little more than a mirage, poses a fundamental challenge to politicians, policy advocates, practitioners and development scholars alike.

The 2007 World Development Report addressed Development and the Next Generation, the 2008 report addressed Agriculture for Development and the 2013 report addresses Jobs, but it is the intersection of these three areas that is now very much in the African policy spotlight.

The promise of agriculture?

Given that the majority of Africans live in rural areas, the continuing importance of the agricultural sector to most African economies, and the very slow emergence of employment opportunities in the formal sector, it is not surprising that policy advocates and development practitioners look to agriculture as the source of opportunity for young people.

In many cases the problem is framed narrowly – what can be done to keep young people in farming?

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via Institute of Development Studies: Growing their own jobs? Agriculture, unemployment and the threat of a ‘lost generation’ of rural Africans.