Report on E- Consultation on ‘Youth Employment in Africa as a Solid Solution to ending Hunger and Poverty in Africa’ published in French and Spanish

The summary report on the online discussion, 'Youth employment in agriculture as a solid solution to ending hunger and poverty in Africa' is now available in English|French|Spanish

The online e-consultation on Youth employment in agriculture as a solid solution to ending hunger and poverty in Africa was held on the 16th of July to the 10th of August 2018 on the FAO FSN Forum.

The e-consultation took four weeks and saw participants from 33 countries who shared 90 contributions. This e-consultation was organized to gather views of youths (especially those who could not attend) the 20-21 August regional conference whose theme was “Youth Employment in Agriculture as a Solid Solution to Ending Hunger and Poverty in Africa: Engaging through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Entrepreneurship” which was held in Kigal, Rwanda.

Themes of the e-consultation

The e-consultation had three feeder themes contributing to main conference, these were:-

• Experience as a Youth in the Agriculture Sector
• Major Achievements and Success stories
• What the Rwanda youth conference should address

During the consultation, the participants concurred that the agricultural sector in Africa needs young people but it continues to suffer from an image problem, in other words agriculture is not attractive to the African youths. There is need for success stories, successful role models that can attract young people back to the farms.

Most African youths are exposed to agriculture from childhood, however many see it as laborious and manual and even the adults urge them to stay off the farm. The current average African farmer is aged (most between 45-70). Concerns raised include the

1. lack of appropriate rural services and facilities,
2. lack of information about opportunities in agriculture,
3. need for solutions that take into account youths different situations.

participants also highlighted a number of opportunities such as the potential for agriculture to end rural poverty among youths; young farmers can bring more drive to the aged farming population; and the potential in using ICTs for agriculture.