Involving the Youth in Agricultural Development

Outline of the presentation AGRA’s Mission Justification for engaging youth in agriculture AGRA’s approach in empowering youth for agricultural transformation Lessons Learnt

AGRA’s Mission AGRA’s mission is to catalyze an agricultural transformation in Africa through innovation-driven, sustainable, productivity increases and access to finance that improves the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. AGRA’s strategy (2015 -2020) will focus on three components: Catalyze an agricultural transformation in key agro-ecological zones on the continent Unlock the value of private and public sector investments to sustain agricultural transformation Develop capacities and capabilities that will strengthen and sustain the foundation for African agricultural transformation in the future

AGRA’s Value chain approach MSc's and Ph.Ds.' Trained Seed/Fertilizer Produced/ sold Adoption of New Technologies Commodities Sold 520 varieties 3 million ISFM technologies 1-3 MT/ha maize Research Capacity Building Research & Development Input Production & Distribution Awareness Creation on Agriculture Transformation Adoption Production Postharvest & Marketing 440,000MT fertiliser, 120,000MT seed 600 SMEs 600 students Technology Development Creating Awareness, Training and Extension Increased Yield 4

Why Empowering Youth for Agriculture? Africa is currently endowed with a large and growing cohort of young people, with 65% of the total population of Africa being below the age of 35 years 10 million youth enter the labor market annually Youth bulge in Africa: by 2020, 3 out of 4 people on the continent will be aged 20 years old However, youth represent an enormous opportunity for Africa: they bring energy, vitality, innovations to both rural and urban communities

AGRA’s Approach in Empowering Youth for Agricultural Transformation

1. Youth in Value Chain Agribusiness Youth have engaged in profitable value chain businesses: a) Seed companies Nearly 90 local seed companies supported across 13 countries in Africa with many of these companies owned or managed by young people. b) Agro-dealers About 25,000 agro-dealers have been trained across 13 countries over the last six years. Of these, 8,000 are youth and have benefited .

c) Small, medium enterprises (SMEs) AGRA has invested enormously in developing the capacity of 600 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) along key crop value chains. Agricultural enterprises are, indeed attract youth and engage and employ them within various agricultural value chains. The services range from provision of mechanization services, threshing, aggregation and agro-processing for value addition. Upland Rice Millers Company managed by a youthful entrepreneur under UDET project in Uganda. UDET has supported to develop BDS in Uganda that are currently employing 296 youths.

d) Out-grower schemes AGRA has supported out- grower schemes that provide a viable employment opportunity for youth especially in rural areas. Mr. Idrissu MacAdams (second left) with his team packing harvested grain in Kumasi Ghana

Out-grower Scheme Approach- Anchor Farm Model in Malawi Impact of the Anchor Farm Model 24,000 directly trained on ISFM maize yields increased from of 1.3 to 4.6 t/ha, and for soybeans from 0.7 to 1.3 t/ha 9,000 ha under ISFM 16,00 tons soybean sold to processors

2. Youth in ICT Applications AGRA is supporting the development and deployment of ICT applications to improve input and output markets through its mFarms application in 17 countries. The mFarms platform was developed by a Ghanaian youth, Mr. Kwame Bentil.

Nurturing Youth Talent in ICT Application Development through Hackathons AGRA in partnership with CTA is supporting hackathons that help young agricultural ICT app developers shape their technical and business skills through competing against each other. A case is the support of Rwanda National Hackathon during the ICT4Ag conference in Kigali in 2013. AGRA has continued to support to ICT projects in the region. For example, in Tanzania the BUNI hub is supporting AGRA to develop an agricultural application for the integrated Project in the Southern Highlands. Young ‘Techies’ developing agricultural ICT applications during a hackathon

3. Youth in Training Programs AGRA supports mentorship and grants for degree training (MSc and PhD), vocational training for extension agents, laboratory technicians, agro-dealers and farmers. 600 postgraduate degree trained personnel 560 seed entrepreneur personnel through the Seed Enterprise and Management Institute 260 laboratory and field technicians, 4,900 extension agents, including 500 tertiary college extension students. 2,780 fertilizer inspectors

Distribution of MSc and PhD Students Trained in Soil Health Management

Number of PhD Students Trained in Crop Improvement

4. Innovative Financing for Youth Entrepreneurs AGRA collaborated with the Government of Kenya and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to establish a credit guarantee scheme with Equity Bank that would enable access to finance for Kenya’s smallholder farmers and others in the agriculture sector. The partnership leveraged $50 million in lending to farmers and other agricultural value chain actors.

Lessons Learned Youth are willing to engage in farming as well as input and output markets as long as they can generate returns quickly and avoid the drudgery with low returns they have seen growing up Mentorship programs, youth placements and provision of entrepreneurial skills are critical for the success of youth as agri- preneurs Development and deployment of ICT applications in agriculture offer huge employment opportunities for youth along the agricultural value chain Special youth funds with less stringent collateral requirements are critical for youth participation along the value chain

Thank you (www.agra.org)