Africa is considered the youngest continent in the world, with 60% of its population aged below 25. This demographic holds great potential for transforming the agricultural and agrifood sector. The agribusiness sector is projected to be a USD1 trillion industry by 2030, offering huge employment and business development opportunities for young people.
With increasing population growth, urbanization, and rising food demand, engaging youth in the agrifood system is critical to averting a ticking time bomb of youth uprising, insecurity, and internal resource conflict.
Presumably, the Heads of State of the African Union in Malabo (2014) recognised this impending implosion and endorsed the Malabo Declaration on “Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods”, with a specific youth-related targets including the creation of job opportunities for at least 30% of youth in the agricultural value chains, facilitating preferential entry and participation for women and youth in gainful and attractive agribusiness opportunities (AUC, 2014).
In furtherance of the Malabo Declaration’s commitment to youth job opportunities, the African Union Commission, through the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (AUC-DARBE), developed and launched the African Agribusiness Youth Strategy (AAYS) in 2022.
The AAYS as a continental framework places emphasis on the empowerment of youth, creating an enabling environment for youth entrepreneurship and youth employment in agribusiness, and enhancing youth participation in the sector governance and development at continental, regional, national, and subnational levels. It serves as a continental framework that should be used at regional, national, and subnational levels to develop context-specific Youth Agribusiness strategies.
As other job sectors continue to shrink, agribusiness provides a unique chance for young people to find meaningful employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, from local markets to global value chains,” said Dr Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, African Union Commission during the recent Northern Africa regional dialogue.
Driven by three pillars: building systems for implementation, transforming markets, and strengthening value chains, the African Agribusiness Youth Strategy (AAYS) is fundamentally designed to empower ‘agripreneurs,’ or young people, with the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to develop and build sustainable agribusinesses.
- Building systems for implementation
The first pillar of the AAYS underscores the importance of strong policies and effective mobilisation of institutions and resources at all levels. It advocates for youth representation in decision-making, as their participation in policy creation is crucial for designing agribusiness initiatives that truly reflect the realities of young Africans. This empowerment gives them a sense of ownership of the agricultural agenda, making their involvement not just important but indispensable.
- Transforming markets
The goal of AAYS is to improve the market conditions for young agripreneurs by making markets better and easier to penetrate and profit from. This can motivate youth farmers to go beyond local and national level markets; by utilising digital platforms, they can tap into regional and international markets and expand their income sources. Programs like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can also help in enhancing inter-country trade, thus opening up new avenues for growth. The private sector is just as by providing supply contracts, employing young people in the procurement chain and training them as well. All these are necessary in making an ecosystem that helps young agribusinesses flourish.
- Strengthening value chains
The third AAYS pillar focuses on strengthening agricultural value chains, ensuring youth are involved at every stage, from production to post-harvest activities and distribution. This entails creating off-farm operations, such as agribusiness services, logistics, and value-added processing, to broaden youth job opportunities beyond traditional farming. The AAYS strives to overcome barriers that have traditionally excluded young people from working in the agricultural sector by facilitating access to loans, equipment, and training. Promoting sustainable farming methods and investing in innovations that boost productivity while protecting the environment are also part of the value chain strengthening process.
The African Agribusiness Youth Strategy sets out a plan for transforming Africa’s agricultural landscape through youth engagement. To make this vision a reality, governments, the private sector, institutions, and youth must now take responsibility and work together. With the right policies and investments in place, Africa’s young population can drive a modern agribusiness industry that fosters food security and economic growth across the continent.
With 930 million hectares of arable land, Africa has the potential to become the world’s food basket. Yet, over 50% of this land remains unexploited. By aligning our efforts across nations, we can sustainably use these resources to secure the future of agriculture and meet the goals of Africa Agenda 2063.
The African Union and the AGRA have joined hands to promote regional dialogues in conjunction with organisations like the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), ECOWAS and SADC where meetings have already been conducted successfully in North, West, and Southern Africa. These dialogues are part of the ongoing efforts aimed at getting as many governments as possible on the continent to execute the AAYS strategy in terms of awareness creation, partnership building, and promotion of best practices for youth integration into agribusiness.
AGRA understands the importance of this strategy and is firmly committed to ensuring its success across the continent and beyond its primary markets. We are making a long-term, continental impact by engaging in countries where AGRA is not a major focus, such as Egypt. This strategy brings the AAYS to life across Africa by ensuring that each region’s needs and potential are identified and realized.
David Adama, Senior Specialist—Continental & Regional Engagements, AGRA, emphasises “that the AAYS dialogues already held in Southern, Western and Northern Africa has provided opportunities for youths and their Governments to take stock of current youth-related strategy, frameworks and initiatives, identifying the challenges and opportunities in implementing a robust and comprehensive national youth agribusiness and agrifood systems frameworks aligned to the AAYS, while creating a cohesive and supportive environment for youth in agribusiness.”
