Youth employment and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
This expert opinion of David Suttie on the INCLUDE Knowledge Platform, highlights the role that agriculture can play in tackling the youth unemployment challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Suttie states that integrating the dynamism, energy and innovative potential of youth in agriculture is crucial to increase agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa, to meet the food and nutrition needs of its population, and to increase the competitiveness of African food markets. Young people, especially women, face significant constraints related to access to land, financial services and training. Therefore, investment in smallholder farming is crucial to tackle such constraints and to increase the attractiveness of agriculture to young people according to Suttie. Much good practice and knowledge in these areas already exists and documenting, scaling-up and adapting these holds much promise. But a more inclusive and youth-sensitive institutional and policy environment is needed, where growth is broad-based and job rich, inequality reduced and the young people of today are presented with viable opportunities to drive a modern agriculture capable of feeding Africa.