Youth "Agripreneurship" Can Drive Higher Incomes, Improved Food Security
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As many as 440 million youths (defined as people under the age of 30) are expected to join Africa’s labor market by 2030. If the labor market cannot support this enormous population with adequate employment and livelihood opportunities, it poses serious threats to the region’s stability, economic development, and food security. According to a recent conference paper presented at the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists, programs focusing on empowering youth enrepreneurs in the agrifood sector—so-called “agripreneurs” —can be a powerful channel to provide such opportunities.
The paper draws on evidence from the ENABLE-TAAT program in Kenya and Uganda, which incorporates development of both hard and soft skills, access to productive agrifood system resources, and training on modern technologies to help youth agripreneurs engage in high-value, higher income agrifood value chains. A total of 1038 people were surveyed, comprising 477 participants in the program and 561 non-participants. The survey focused on information related to agribusiness income and food security among both participants and non-participants. Agribusiness income is defined as the summation of total earnings from crop production, livestock sales, and processed agricultural products produced, while food security is measured as the weighted sum of the number of days on which each of 8 main food groups was consumed over the seven days prior to the survey.
The beneficial results of program participation were significant. Youth who participated in the ENABLE-TAAT program saw 7 percent higher agribusiness incomes and 76 percent higher food security. Participants also had higher asset value than non-participants.
The authors posit that the program’s 13 trainings on improved business management practices and innovative production methods may have increased their production, enhancing both incomes and food security. The training also included a focus on the importance healthy diets, which likely played a role in participants’ higher food security outcomes.
Several factors appear important in informing people’s likelihood of participating in the program. Specifically, agribusiness experience, asset value, access to credit, place of residence, and awareness and perception of the program prior to joining were all key determinants of a person’s likelihood to participate.
People with more years of agribusiness experience were around 3 percent less likely to join the program, suggesting that more experienced agripreneurs may see less need for additional training or new practices.
Participants from rural areas were also less likely to participate in the program—around 13 percent less likely. While this may seem surprising given these areas’ dependence on the agricultural sector, the program was implemented in the capital cities of Kenya and Uganda. Tthis could mean that both awareness of and access to the program was lower in rural areas.
On the other hand, higher asset value led to higher likelihood of participation in the program. The authors posit that participants may have seen the program as an opportunity to improve their overall economic status by converting their assets into sustainable income-generating business. People who owned more advanced productive assets may also have seen the value in training to learn how best to use and maintain their equipment.
Access to credit also led to higher participation in the program, potentially stemming from the desire to maximize production in order to repay loans more quickly and reliably.
Finally, awareness and perception of the program were both very significant in people’s decision to join. When people knew about the program prior to its implementation, they were 63 percent more likely to join than those who only learned about it when the pilot was launched. In addition, people who believed the program would help them acquire skills and networking opportunities were 44 percent more likely to join.
These last findings suggest the importance of robust awareness campaigns, including the use of social media, surrounding youth employment and agribusiness empowerment programs, including the use of social media to target young populations. They also highlight the need to design programs carefully to ensure they are perceived as beneficial by young people.
Sara Gustafson is a freelance communications consultant.