The new alliance on food security and nutrition: what are the implications for Africa’s youth?

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2016

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Future Agricultures Consortium

Abstract

Young people are a growing proportion of Africa’s population and most live in poverty in rural areas. Despite urbanisation, in absolute numbers the rural youth are growing and agricultural development needs to prioritise opportunities for them to create land-based livelihoods. Large-scale land-based investments that allocate land and water to private companies are often justified with the promise of job creation, but typically create fewer jobs than the land-based livelihoods that they displace. Private investments in agriculture need to be designed to create opportunities for young people to create livelihoods for themselves and their families, both in primary production and also in upstream and downstream enterprises. Implementation of the New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition needs to avoid large-scale land-based investments and facilitate the process of developing young people as independent farmers and producers capable of establishing landbased and rural non-farm livelihoods on their own, and on their own terms.

Description

Keywords

Africa, Youth, Agriculture, Food security, Landgrabs, Rural livelihoods

Citation

Hakizimana, C. (2016) The New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition: What are the Implications for Africa’s Youth? Future Agricultures Policy Brief 86. Brighton: Future Agricultures Consortium