Introduction: The Young People and Agriculture ‘Problem’ in Africa

Sumberg, James; Anyidoho, Nana Akua; Leavy, Jennifer; Lintelo, Dolf te; Wellard, Kate

doi:10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00374.x

Cited by 75 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This paper builds on the concept of 'opportunity space'. Sumberg, Anyidoho, Leavy, teLintelo, and Wellard (2012) define opportunity space as the set of available options within a given context for each individual to establish an independent life. The individual opportunity space is a function of both surrounding structural factors as well as the individual's ability to engage in a possible opportunity space.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through this concept an individual's engagement or disengagement and advantages and disadvantages, in relation to livelihood opportunities in a specific context may be analysed and understood. While Sumberg et al (2012) and Sumberg and Okali (2013) use the concept in relation to youth only, we see the possibility for an extended use which includes individuals from all age groups. By doing so we see the need of extending the concept from establish an independent life to also include maintaining an independent life.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Generational dynamics of agricultural intensification in Malawi: challenges for the youth and elderly smallholder farmers

Lindsjö

Mulwafu

Djurfeldt

et al. 2020

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

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In the next 24 years, the Malawian population is expected to double, a development that will inevitably affect access to land and land holding sizes. As access to land is already limited, securing food for the growing population will require policy shifts including the promotion of agricultural intensification. Malawi's economy depends on the agricultural sector, and this paper addresses the generational perspective of agricultural intensification, with specific focus on youth and elderly in smallholder production systems. Despite wide recognition that an overwhelmingly large share of the Malawian population is young, our research finds that the younger generation have less access to land than the older generations. The elderly are limited in farming due to the physical labour required for agriculture, yet they withhold their pieces of land. Our research shows that maize yields have remained low between 2008 and 2017, and that the elderly have had the lowest yields. The potential for sustainable agricultural intensification therefore remains low until access to land and financial support for the youth receive special attention in all relevant circles including policy discourses. The paper situates the findings from this study within the broader scholarship on generational changes and perceptions in relation to access to resources for production.

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Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generational dynamics of agricultural intensification in Malawi: challenges for the youth and elderly smallholder farmers

Lindsjö

Mulwafu

Djurfeldt

et al. 2020

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Two main approaches have been used. With the first approach, studies generally assess young people's aspirations, which they define as what young people plan to achieve given their perception of their opportunity space, that is, the range of possibilities available to them to establish an independent life, in the context of prevailing constraints and opportunities (Sumberg et al, 2012). One factor structuring young rural people's opportunity space is their ability to access resources, such as land, capital and farming knowledge (FAO, 2014;White, 2012).…”

Section: Approaches To Analyse Young People's Willingness To Farmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young people’s willingness to farm under present and improved conditions in Thailand

Salvago

Phiboon²,

Faysse

et al. 2019

Outlook Agric

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Studies of young people's willingness to farm usually analyse their plans based on the resources available to them, or their hopes if they had access to more resources, but rarely study the two jointly. However, in newly industrialized countries in Asia, such joint assessments are needed to disentangle the extent to which young people's limited involvement in farming is due to lack of interest or to the fact that they see no way to get round the obstacles to starting the kind of farming they want to practice. This study analysed the vision of 86 young rural people in Prachinburi Province, Thailand, concerning farming, their plan to farm under prevailing conditions and their willingness to become a farmer if more opportunities to start farming were available. More than two-thirds of the interviewees were not farming at the time of the interview, but half planned to start farming, either part or full time, in the coming decade. One-third of the interviewees said that if they had better opportunities to start farming, they would reconsider their current plans to work in non-agricultural sectors and instead become full-time farmers. Public policies aimed at increasing the number of young people who become farmers should consequently not take the prevailing lack of engagement in farming by many young rural people as a given. Such policies should not only support young people who already plan to farm, but also those who would be willing to farm if they had better opportunities to do so.

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“…To summarize, the engagement in agriculture — whether total or partial, as a ‘career’, a complementary activity or as a tool to achieve higher goals later in their lives — is now an option for many Balanta young men tired of waithood. This is probably because their ‘opportunity space’ to take advantage of the agri‐food sector (Sumberg et al., ) was expanded by the increase in the price of rice since 2008 and the money provided by cashew nut production. Those who take advantage of education in urban areas are still relatively few in number, and Guinea‐Bissau's constant political instability makes urban life less attractive and more risky.…”

Section: ‘The Rice Field Is Where Our Belly Is’: Agriculture As Root mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Pen and the Plough: Balanta Young Men in Guinea‐Bissau

Temudo¹,

Abrantes²

2015

Development and Change

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Up until the late 1990s, the Balanta of Guinea-Bissau constituted what could be described as a 'deep rural society', whose central identity was linked with rice production and cattle accumulation. At the same time, it could be argued that even in the early days after Independence in 1974, the social aspirations of Balanta young men matched those of other Guinean youths in their shared desire to get away from the strictures of gerontocracy and of rural life. Surprisingly, however, this study documents the agency of many rural Balanta young men in changing oppressive social rules, and in using agriculture as a means to fund their education, to feed their families and as a route to prosperity. The authors conclude that the persistent political instability in the country (most acutely felt in the capital city) and the national and global economic crises, together with the Balanta agricultural ethos and the softening of gerontocratic power, are at the root of this revaluing of rural livelihoods. This article challenges current dominant narratives about the crisis of young men in contemporary Africa and highlights the need to study the aspirations and achievements of youth in their rural-urban nexus from a historical and holistic perspective.

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Introduction: The Young People and Agriculture ‘Problem’ in Africa

Cited by 75 publications

References 19 publications

Generational dynamics of agricultural intensification in Malawi: challenges for the youth and elderly smallholder farmers

Generational dynamics of agricultural intensification in Malawi: challenges for the youth and elderly smallholder farmers

Young people’s willingness to farm under present and improved conditions in Thailand

The Pen and the Plough: Balanta Young Men in Guinea‐Bissau

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