Youth Participation in Agriculture: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Providing economic opportunities for youth in agriculture is essential to securing the future of agriculture in Africa, addressing poverty, unemployment, and inequality. However, barriers limit youth participation in agriculture and the broader food system. This scoping review aimed to investigate the opportunities and challenges for youth in participating in agriculture and the food system in Africa. This review conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA guideline. Published studies were retrieved from online databases (Web of Science, Cab Direct, and Science Direct) for 2009 to 2019. The findings showed that existing agricultural interventions are production-centric and provide low-income earnings and inadequate social protection. We also found that the youth have pessimistic perceptions about agriculture’s capability of improving their living standards. This could be ascribed to the minimal youth involvement in agricultural activities and the youth’s shared understanding of the agricultural sector’s contribution to general economic growth. From a policy perspective, the literature revealed that current agricultural development programs do not adequately address structural issues underpinning youth participation in the economy. Therefore, to enhance the involvement of youths in agriculture, there is a need for policy implementation in the area of integrated agricultural-based interventions that are context-specific and promote meaningful youth participation in shaping future food systems.

Youth Participation in Agricultural Enterprises as Rural Job Creation Work and Its Determinants in Southern Ethiopia

“…e review of the existing literature suggests that a youth's decision to participate in an agricultural enterprise is often determined by the youths' profile, ownership of productive assets, sociocultural norms, peer influence, and institutional issues [8,9,11,13,15,17,19,[24][25][26][27]. Based on the existing literature, the potential explanatory variables that were supposed to influence youth participation in the agricultural enterprise are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…As a result, a huge amount of money from the government that was invested in youth enterprises was not used functionally. To overcome the issues, an enabling policy and regulatory environment are fundamental to attracting young people to the agricultural sector [4,17,18].…”

“…us, investigating this research gap has vital importance to government and development partner institutions to carry out evidence-based policy advocacy and public awareness to enhance the participation of youths in an agricultural enterprise. A better understanding of factors that affect youth participation in the agricultural enterprise as job creation works at the micro-level was required by organizations concerned with community development and policymaking [17].…”

Rural youth interest in economic activities along the agricultural value chain: empirical evidence from KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and implications

“…There is ample evidence in the literature that highlights that young people do not have a preference to engage in agricultural activities. Studies indicate that they perceive agriculture as low status, hard labor, and unattractive job (Geza et al, 2021;Irungu et al, 2015). According to the youth, agriculture is a part-time job and not a profession or livelihood strategy.…”

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“…Despite the many available career opportunities in the agricultural sector, there is a lack of interest from the youth in choosing agriculture as a professional career, and this has led to a shortage in skill and labour shortages in the sector. The youth perceive agriculture as an exclusive venture for the rural people (Geza et al, 2021). Certain factors influence career choice among the youth, and that is why it is imperative to undergo a study on the factors influencing the interest of youth in choosing a career path in agriculture.…”