What contribution of agroecology to job creation in sub-Saharan Africa? The case of horticulture in the Niayes, Senegal

Abstract

In the context of Sub-Saharan Africa's demographic boom, the issue of youth employment has become a major concern. Many debates are ongoing regarding agriculture's role in the structural transformation process and providing jobs. In this regard, we explore the opportunity of an agroecological intensification of family farming. We analyze data from agricultural households in the Niayes area of Senegal collected in 2019 and use a clustering method to group farms and rank them according to agroecological practices. Diversity and livestock integration are the most differentiating factors across the identified farming systems. Considering labor allocation complexity within family farms, we compare employment indicators between farming systems to look for agroecology's effect on agricultural work. We observe diversity in the intensity of labor requirements across the different systems but no overall increase for the most agroecological. However, women working hours appear significantly increased for two groups suggesting a substitution with wage workers for the most agroecological systems.

Green Agendas and White Markets: The Coloniality of Agroecology in Senegal

“…While some dub them as romantic optimism and peasant populism [34,35], others feel that agroecology traps African farmers in poverty due to inevitable productivity trade-offs rather than enhancing their independence [36]. Insights from various case studies around the world report poor working conditions [37], higher workload absorbed by unpaid family labor [38,39], unpaid labor arrangements such as internships [40,41], and attest agroecology (self-)exploitative tendencies due to heavy workload [42][43][44]. The considerable workload-the drudgery of work-has been repeatedly identified as a barrier to adopting agroecological practices [45,46], especially for people engaged in care work [47][48][49].…”