Engaging rural youth in agribusiness has become an important strategy to create employment opportunities in Africa. To this end, governments and development partners have implemented various interventions that facilitate youth engagement in agribusiness for several years. However, there is a dearth of evidence on what worked and what did not work well, making it difficult to inform evidence-based policy making. In an effort to fill this knowledge gap, a comprehensive literature review of the outcomes of interventions related to youth engagement in agribusiness was conducted using a deductive coding approach. Results showed that the interventions implemented by governments and development partners across Africa have succeeded in producing favorable outcomes despite some limitations. Interventions that integrate capacity development, financial support for startups, and continuous mentorship on the technical and financial aspects of youth-run agribusiness projects proved successful in enhancing youth engagement in agribusiness. This suggests that the design and implementation of future interventions should be based on an integrated approach that considers diversity of youths’ aspirations and shared capabilities, interests, expectations, as well as challenges associated with access to resources and participation in collective action. The design of future interventions should also be built on strong partnerships among rural communities, academia, research, and private sector for increased impact on livelihood improvements.
Community participation, defined as engaging users of schemes in the decision-making processes for the planning and implementation of irrigation projects, is critical for the sustainability of irrigation schemes. This study was carried out in three regional states of Ethiopia to investigate the contribution of Water User Associations (WUAs) to sustaining participation in irrigation projects. The paper demonstrates that the poor understanding of community participation and institutional development by project staff in donor-supported irrigation projects results in the poor performance of WUAs in enhancing participation in irrigation systems. The interventions of external bodies in setting up the WUA by-laws and in determining the responsibilities of users and WUA committees contributed to the low level of participation. The transfer of schemes to WUAs without building WUA committees' abilities in operation and maintenance constrained their ability to sustainably manage irrigation schemes. The WUA committees are male-dominated and the views of women are hardly represented in the decision-making. Therefore, establishing WUA committees that reflect the interests and inputs of scheme users is crucial to achieve fair decision-making. Local authorities and non-governmental organizations could do more to change perceptions and behavior on the importance of gender equity in sustaining the positive outcomes of irrigation at household and community levels
Involvement of youth in horticulture agribusiness has become a vital approach to create employment opportunities among the youth in Tanzania. This study aimed at examining the extent of youth participation and factors influencing youth involvement in horticulture agribusiness with a focus on innovations in post-harvest management (PHM). Data were collected from a sample of 576 male and female youth in Njombe region using a multi-stage random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using an ordered logit model and descriptive statistics. Results of the ordered logit analysis showed that primary school education, Form IV and above, management innovation, access to credit, good perception of horticulture for agribusiness and improved packaging materials positively and significantly influence youth involvement in horticulture agribusiness. Gender and land size had a negative and significant influence on youth involvement in horticulture agribusiness, as indicated by higher percentages of male youth (59%) participation in the horticulture agribusiness. Therefore, this study suggests increased investment in capacity development of the youth on PHM innovations and the development of rural infrastructure such as agro-processing and storage facilities by the government and private sector. Increasing the availability of improved packaging materials and provision of youth-friendly credit schemes could encourage youth in horticulture agribusiness.
The role of land registration in reducing rural poverty has been debated for several decades. This article analyses the impacts of land registration on land rentals, security of land tenure, disputes over land, use of credit facilities from formal financial institutions and gender access and control over land. Our findings are based on data collected between April and December 2011 in irrigation systems in three regional states of Ethiopia using in‐depth interviews and field surveys. Land registration has a positive influence on land rentals by reducing the fear of landholders in losing land to renters. Important benefits of land registration also include enhancing tenure security through ensuring usufruct rights over land and addressing the conflicts that arise from the competition to access irrigable land. Joint land titling secures women's access to land and encourages women's decision‐making on land rentals, input use, cropping patterns and the marketing of harvest from irrigable plots. While land registration allows for improved tenure security, gender equity and reduced disputes over land, it does little to facilitate access to credit or increase the use of farm inputs. The findings suggest that more work needs to be carried out to translate the benefits of land registration into improved livelihoods by increasing investment in farm inputs, production of high value, off‐season crops and increase market participation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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