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SIANI’s input to the e-consultation for the report promoting youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food systems

This document outlines the Swedish International Agriculture Initiative’s (SIANI) input to the e-consultation for the V.0 draft of the HLPE report Promoting youth engagement and
employment in agriculture and food systems. 

SIANI’s input is based on discussions at the SIANI Annual Meeting and the session Promoting youth in food systems – today and tomorrow held Friday 29 January 2021. Approximately 400 people watched the session live through Zoom and Facebook Live. The purpose of the session was two-fold, firstly, to engage the SIANI network in the issue of youth and food systems ahead of the CFS and the Food Systems Summit in 2021. Secondly, the session was structured to be able to provide input to the e-consultation of the HLPE report promoting youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food systems. We hope the discussion and questions raised during the session at SIANI’s annual meeting will be of benefit in the report process and look forward to further engage on the topic of youth and food systems. 

The full recording of the event at SIANI’s Annual Meeting can be watched here: https://vimeo.com/507851930

 

Panel:

• Amanda Wood, MPH PhD, Researcher, Stockholm Resilience Centre
• Maureen Muketha, Founder of TuleVyema (a Kenyan NGO working with nutrition and food security) and Fellow, Young African Leaders Initiative
• Sanna Vannar, Chair of Sáminourra (A Sámi youth organisation in Sweden)
• Thomas Rosswall, Member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE)

Moderator: Jonathan Eng, Network Coordinator, SIANI/ Stockholm Environment Institute
(SEI)

 

Mind mapping exercise

Through a mind-mapping exercise SIANI invited its network to give suggestions for how to ensure youth’s future role in food systems. A presentation of the full results from the mind mapping exercise can be found through this link. Some key aspects that were raised include:

• Bottom-up processes where youth are included all the way and where capacity building is ensured
• Learning opportunities, including using elders as mentors
• Enabling a news mind-set around work in food systems, make work in food systems attractive
• Encouraging youth from a young age to participate and engage in food systems, as well as ensuring that youth have agency and a high level of participation, not only representation

Part 1. How do we ensure youth’s future role in food systems?

Question 1: During the pandemic we have moved all events and meetings online. Do you think this has enabled youth to be more active in these dialogues? Might these forums even be a more democratic way of enabling voices from youth? What issues do you see? And what role could SIANI play as a multi-sector network?

Answers from the panel:

Panellist 2: More youth can get involved now, but I am also very concerned about
those not having internet – how can they be involved in the conversation?

Panellist 1: It is a mix of good and bad, new tools are coming all the time to facilitate
these kinds of discussions. However, at the same time, it is an issue if you don’t
already have the network to be involved. Especially in the research space it is really
narrowed down. We need to think about how to engage younger people, how should
we make these connections that otherwise might have happened at a conference?

Panellist 3: It is a lot easier to join meetings and events now. We still have problems;
we have the technology, but we do not always have access. We are not invited to the
table. A lot of youth also do not have access to the modern technology, there is a
digital divide.

Panellist 4: SIANI brings stakeholders together. We need these kinds of platforms.
We need to engage youth in these platforms as well and ensure that there are mentors
for youth. 

Question 2: In most countries, no matter if in Sweden or in Kenya, farms are shifting hands from parents to youth. And in that shift, also the “how to” trickles down. However, no matter if in Sweden or Kenya, this “how to” is often built on methods that worked in the past, but not geared for building sustainable food systems for future generations. So – what is needed to excel competence, courage and commitment for youth in agriculture, to challenge the current “how to”?

Answer from panellist 2: First thing for youth is to show interest, to try to align
themselves, try to find people to work with, find inputs and subsidies for trade.

Question 3: We talk about the transformation of food systems and future scenarios. But how should we get there? 

Answer from panellist 1: There is no blueprint and no clear answer for this, but we
know the general direction where we need to go. Any solution needs to be contextspecific and needs to involve everyone in the food systems. We need to enable people to do that and not except it to happen by itself, we need to provide for those people to engage. We need a more hands on and local approach. We have to make sure that we do not only talk about problems and solutions – we need to get to the middle bit. If we do not actually talk about values, interest and barriers, we will get a long list of issues and disconnected solutions. 

Question 4. How is the situation for the Sámis’ collaborating with the regional governments in Sweden concerning the pastures and reindeer herding? I could imagine land rights must be central to Sami youth.

Answer from panellist 3: There are many problems and I do not have time to go into each one. On paper the Sámi don’t own the land, it is the Swedish state, but they say
they own the land. The forest companies need to consult with the Sámi villages when
starting a project, but the forestry only looks at maps, the Sámi villages have to
consider much more than that (roads, hydroelectric power, land for their reindeers
etc.). The Sámi can stall the investments but five years later the companies say that
they have waited long enough now, and the Sámi people do not have the real power to
say no and fully decide over the land. 

Question 5: I am a researcher and I want to know to what extent you think early career
researchers (young researchers) can contribute to sustainable food systems? And how can they become involved in the journey?

Answer from panellist 4: Early career scientists are important, there’s a lot of
enthusiasts there and that is where a lot of the engagement is. I have been involved
with Sida, building cooperation & capacity with engaged youth from academia. But
after they get their PhD, will they develop an academic career? There’s too much
teaching, administration and too little time to focus on building their own scientific
career. Support is needed to help provide the right conditions for youth to stay in this
field.

Part 2. How can we ensure that youth are central in the transformation towards more sustainable and resilient food systems?

Question 6: I have myself been thinking about that we know that we want to include youth, but how can we formulate what youth can bring to the table? We also have a question in the audience that connects to this, that person wonders if there is any data on youth engagement – or do we assume that they do not have access and are engaged?

Answers from the panel:

Panellist 2: The number of youth representatives are growing, but we’re not there yet.
There’s a lot of youth migration from rural to urban areas, if youth was included and
knew better than to migrate, they would not go away. There’s no enabling
environment for youth to stay in rural areas, the knowledge about the possibilities food
systems bring about is lacking.

Panellist 4: 80% of the work force in low-income countries are involved in farming.
But how can we make that sector attractive, make it innovative, and attract youth to
engage? It is not so much about ensuring that they are present in food systems but that
they take over their farms with innovative approaches. That’s where the future lies.
The young people can lead the change.

Question 7: Can we identify a few key aspects on how to do this. How can we make work in agriculture and food systems more attractive?

Answers from the panel:

Panellist 2: Improve mechanization, technology that can facilitate work and
knowledge exchange. Distribution has to be improved, with trucks enabling a cold
chain for fragile foods for example.

Panellist 4: Solutions need to be context-specific and it varies from country to
country. But there are constraints in large parts of Africa the lack of roads, fertilizers
etc. are issues. The use of mobile phones is one way to solve some of these issues. But
we need to modernize infrastructure.

Panellist 3: We need to value the people who produce food higher, today they are
lower in the rank. They are knowledgeable and their knowledge is valuable, you do
not need to go to university to have a say.

Panellist 1: Young people should not need to have the courage to engage in food
systems and being a producer. We have to have support mechanisms and de-risk, land
access, technology access and real financial support mechanisms. These are aspects
that public sector could help with.

Part 3. What are the challenges that youth engaged in food systems experience today?

Question 8: We are talking about food systems, and often we refer to COVID-19 and how we should build back better after this pandemic. But we also have an elephant in the room that I think we need to talk more about and that is climate change. We have seen youth taking the streets all over the world demanding action on climate change. I wanted to hear your thoughts on climate change and food systems, and the challenges for youth there. 

Panellist 3: Climate change is nothing we will have in the future; it is already
happening now. We see how Reindeers go through the ice, the lakes they usually walk
on have not frozen because the temperature is so high. Instead of walking on ice, the
reindeers fall in and die. The weather is also changing, and it is shifting more rapidly
than before. The temperature changes result in reindeers not finding food. However, it
is not only affecting reindeers, but it affects our culture. We have hundred words for
snow, but when we do not have snow anymore, we will lose this language.

Question 9: How important is the transfer of knowledge between generations?

Panellist 3: Traditional knowledge is very important to handle climate change and
food systems problems. It has become harder for youth to get that knowledge; you
need to be outside to learn. Youth today have their phones, social media and very little
time to be outside and learn from elders. Children and youth can learn a lot from
elders that you cannot learn from school. Science is praised as the highest-ranking
knowledge, but indigenous knowledge is also needed, a combination of both is needed
for the future.

Question 10: Is the transformation of food systems more of a bottom-up movement or a topdown one?

Answer from panellist 1: It will be a mix of both: policy makers need to be pressured
by people demanding a change. Policy makers hold a lot of power in the current
system, and you can include businesses in this as well, they need to take a lot of
responsibility and structurally change the system that is demanded. It will need to be
both bottom-up and top-down and everything else coming in in the middle.

 

 

 

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you for sharing the well developed and extensive draft V0 with us. Before providing some comments and responses to the questions you have provided, I would like to refer to the comments made by John (Weatherhogg). The point me makes about meaningful, practical and empowering agriculture schools and technical training centres is an excellent one and a challenge for many of us. One experience, how this has been and still is done successfully, I would like to share below. It is a case from Fiji, the Tutu Rural Training Centre:

http://www.tutufiji.com/about_us/

For anyone who wants to read more about it, please see this report:

https://pacificfarmers.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Tutu-Rural-Trainin...

There are many lessons that can be drawn from this example. One to start with: the approach applied has to match (be based on) the cultural and economic situation found in a country or region.

Below the some direct comments and links to more information and references to be considered for the respective report sections. The review has been supported and comments provided by Ms Claudia Scuriatti of the ESA-SMART team.

Apologies for running late. Hope the comments and information provided is useful for the report.

Kind regards,
Heiko

-------------------

How can you contribute to the development of the report?

This V0 draft identifies areas for recommendations and contributions on which the HLPE would welcome suggestions or proposals. The HLPE would welcome submission of material, evidence-based suggestions, references, and concrete examples, in particular addressing the following questions:

1. The V0-draft is structured around a conceptual framework which presents three fundamental pillars for youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food systems (AFS): rights, agency and equity.   

Do you think that this framework addresses the key issues affecting youth engagement and employment in AFS? 

Yes, from our country experiences, we would also suggest emphasizing:

• Limited youth involvement in policy dialogue
• Youth have limited access to and therefore make use of productivity-enhancing inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.

2. The V0-draft identifies main trends for youth engagement in agriculture and food systems, focusing on employment, resources and knowledge.

Do you think that the trends identified are the key ones in affecting outcomes with respect to youth’s engagement in AFS and broader FSN outcomes? If not, which other trends should be taken into account?  

In particular, can you offer feedback on the following:

Where are youth currently under- and over-represented in food systems employment/work? How does this change when considering intersectional categories such as gender, place, ethnicity?

I would say that youth under and over representation in food systems changes depending on the crop/commodity we look at and the country involved. From the findings on the Coffee value chain in Uganda, it appears that youth are underrepresented at the production level due to lack of access to land, and in formal distribution(wholesaling) and aggregation. Youth are generally more involved in casual work and activities at processing and transportation stages. Link to the publication : http://www.fao.org/documents/card/fr/c/CB0413EN/    Also, initial findings from an ongoing work on youth sensitive value chain analysis in Rwandan horticulture suggest that although women participation in horticulture is similar to men, women are more represented at harvesting, sorting, and packaging.

How has digital technology, agriculture 4.0 and automation affected youth employment in AFS? What is their likely impact in the coming decades?

On one hand, digital technologies such as IoT, blockchain, e-commerce and social media can attract youth in agriculture. The adoption of cutting-edge technologies to agriculture can improve/ change the negative perception that young people have toward agriculture. By using innovative apps both young women and men can contribute to on-farm and off-farm activities in different way and perspective compared to their parent's generations. Especially, in the COVID-19 context. There are different cases in which ICT products in the farming sector attract young people. For instance, youth are involved as crop doctors, using apps to diagnose plant disease (https://plantix.net/en ), or as tractor sharing service providers through apps (https://hellotractor.com/) or also managing risks in agriculture such as droughts, pests, and diseases through apps (https://agripredict.com ).

On the other side, there is a risk of increasing the digital divide between urban-rural areas. Digitalization doesn’t happen in a vacuum and requires institutional support to improve digital literacy and build the regulatory environment to protect users and make sure that we all have the same opportunities.

3. Employment

What can make i) farming/fisheries/livestock rearing and other forms of food provision and ii) other roles in the food system a more attractive option for youth employment?

Integrating traditional practices with modern innovations such as apps, e-payment, etc. Need to raise awareness of the employment opportunities that the sector can offer to young men and women. Youth should be able to understand that agriculture can be a profitable business. For instance, services and input provisions could be a profitable business for youth.

Also, it could be worth working on the negative images/perceptions that older generations have on youth and on their willingness to hire youth.  To do so, internships programs, on-the- job trainings could be very helpful to show youth what kind of job they could find in AFS and to demonstrate employees that youth can be reliable hard workers.

8. Are there any major omissions or gaps in the V0-draft? Are topics under-or over-represented in relation to their importance? Are there any redundant facts or statements that could be eliminated from the V0-draft? Are any facts or conclusions refuted, questionable or assertions with no evidence-base? If any of these are an issue, please share supporting evidence.

1. In regard to Chapter 2, perhaps, it could be worth expanding on the negative perception of youth toward the agricultural sector together with the reluctance of employers/ value chain actors to hire and work with youth. We had noted in the current work on youth-sensitive value chains in Rwanda that at the wholesale level, for instance, employees are unwilling to engage with youth since they are considered unskilled and untrusty. Also, it would be worth digging deeper into why agri-food systems are not attractive for young men and women. What kind of services are they looking for? What services/infrastructure is the agriculture sector missing to provide needed by young women and men? Further reflections on these aspects could be relevant to section 1.3 Youth aspirations, imagined futures, and opportunity structures.

2. I suggest to add the following to Box 4: Youth organizations :

• Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD ) https://ypard.net/  
• Youth Engagement in Agriculture Network Rwanda (YEAN) https://yeanrwanda.org/about.php
• Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF) http://ryaf.rw/

3. I would suggest to add CURAD incubator (https://curadincubator.org/ )  to the Box 2: Online “matching” platforms.

 

 

 

Dear Sir / Madam,

I think that agriculture sector is boring something so that it is not attracted to the youth engagement. Meanwhile, they focused and lured by S&T, economic, finance, IT, engine and automation and art.

Experience and evidence in history  proofed that labor movement is from rural to city so that we should know this to deliver nice suggestion. To my knowledge, please see my presentation as link below to find  sound solutions. In fact, if policy maker consider agriculture sector as a market for another sectors. You will find sound one.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347949715_PLANT_GENETIC_RESOURC...

Best regards,

KIEN

 

In all societies adolescence is a time of revolt or breaking away. In closed, rural, restrictive communities young people may find life claustrophobic and wish only to escape the monotonous round of manual labour. Agriculture and fishery training schools with courses for farmers’ and fishermens’ sons often serve only to increase the rate of loss of youth to the cities. Any certificate produced by the school is a passport to a job in the city.

As a result of the drift of youth out of agriculture/fishing there is a shortage of labour and a requirement for increased mechanisation. This requirement could be met by youth operating as contractors. Youngsters have huge energy and enthusiasm and are generally prepared to work longer hours than older colleagues already with families.

In my experience training schools just take their student to the end of the course and then they are supposed to return to the land – whilst in all probably they in fact disappear to the city. Why could not the training schools have an agreement with a credit institution to provide machinery on hire-purchase terms to successful graduates recommended by the school?

That way the youngster would be provided with an interesting and rewarding job and would be able to provide contract services within his area.

Regrettably I have never such a scheme operating, but in England over 40 years ago I saw a 19 year-old energetically providing contract services with a massive John Deere tandem tractor and plough, all of which he had on hire-purchase.

Such a scheme would have not only benefits to the youth involved but the provision of mechanised services at economic cost to the rural community and should prove attractive to donors.

 

My contributions are in reference to Question 3

The proper education and correct positioning of the mindset of youths, as to the importance of these sectors - Farming/ fisheries. Livestock rearing for food security, job creation, sources of livelihood and income is very important. There is the need to disabuse their minds that only very few and rich farmers can make a success out of these sectors. Youths need to have a sort of springboard to jumpstart them into successful practitioners in farming/ fisheries and livestock rearing. They need encouragement and support from the general disenchantment of how and where to start. The creation and provision of enabling environments for them to have access to resources such as water, land, and capital are very important. The support must extend to capacity building especially training and some form of mentorship and/or leveraging of estate developments in these economic sectors, or what is described as Nucleus Estate Initiative whereby, youths are guaranteed inputs and ready markets of their products by a well established company or an entrepreneur who will within the scheme ensure their overall welfare. The deliberate education of youth in agriculture and the introduction of these sectors in educational curricula from very early in educational systems will promote their interest in these economic sectors. Skill acquisition and introduction of new innovation such as the use of ICT, education in entrepreneurial business and solving the obvious challenges in agriculture which today in Nigeria include insecurity, quality assurance along the value chains, processing, post harvest losses, lack of value addition, markets, etc. 
Children can be allowed to work on farms not as farm laborers but to support the family occupation. This should not be at the expense of their education.

Articulating a theory of change:

Youth is a driver for change. Their mindset, ideas and talents should be involved to design policy measurements, so that where they want to take over a leverage for change is being enabled.

Youth are normally underrepresented in decision-making, and sometimes they are in the meetings, but do not get actually involved. That’s a mistake. Youth raise the bar when they get engaged in policy-making, goals get more ambitious. Mechanisms aimed to ensure youth representation have to also ensure youth participation.

Consider the youth perspective as a potential opportunity in the stakeholder and governance environment.

To develop more on the role of local entities to facilitate access to land. In this sense, intermunicipal networks can be a good opportunity for youth engagement and for facilitating access to land. Collaboration networks among urban and rural municipalities can tackle many of the challenges faced in youth engagement. For instance, cities can offer access to markets to peri urban and rural municipalities, while the former can provide access to land for educational purposes or for youth entrepreneurship. See example of “red TERRAE” in Spain and their courses in agriculture for young people.

Shortening supply chains does not directly mean to reduce direct negative environmental impact (see A. Malak-Rawlikowska et al. 2019). This is due to the higher efficiency of global chains in terms of freight load. Nevertheless, the positive outcomes of SFSCs on the environmental sustainability through spillover effects can overpass direct negative effects: rural development, creation of awareness, animal welfare, biodiversity, adopting more eco-friendly production methods, and reducing environmental pollutions (see Renting et al., 2003; Forssell and Lankoski, 2015; Schmmitt et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2019).

To put higher emphasis on the importance of policies that facilitate access to land NOT ONLY to young would-be farmers with families that have lands, but to any young would-be farmer, including urban dwellers. 

Examples of mechanisms to facilitate farmer-to-farmer, especially of those that foster exchange between older and young people. Young people are up to date with new research and techniques, which can help in knowledge transfer. While at the same time, the older generation's experience can help fulfil the aspirations of younger generations towards our common goal (CSAYN call for actions).

To highlight mechanisms that facilitate young would-be farmers from urban areas to engage in SFSCs. This mechanisms can be extremely useful for youth engagement in AFS, especially, after the crisis as these are drivers of migration (see https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405896315006588)

Matchfunding and civic crowdfunding as an innovative example of “economies of solidarity” and for finance access for young people. These mechanisms also work as an example of private-public collaboration mechanism. (See European Crowdfunding Network. (2018). Triggering Participation: A Collection of Civic Crowdfunding and Match-funding Experiences in the EU. Recuperado de https://eurocrowd.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/sites/85/2018/07/ECN_CF4ESIF_... Charbit, Claire y Desmoulins, G. (2017). Civic Crowdfunding: A Collective Option For Local Public Goods? OECD Regional Development Working Papers.; Barrette, E. (2011). Crowdfunding: A communal business model. Communities, (152), 32.)

Sustainable local food procurement as a way to educate childhood on sustainable local food options, this tool reduces dependency on the socio-economic status of a family and the educational level of parents can be. In addition, it can be a tool for local small farmers (including youth) to plan their production. (See for instance Public procurement for sustainable food environments by European Public Health Alliance )

Youth initiatives are fragmented and usually disconnected from local and global policy programs, hence there is a need to focus on grassroots youth initiaves, connect those initiatives and "put young people in the driver's seat".Not only “for” youth, but “by” youth is the only way to deliver effective policies (Youth Alliance for Zero Hunger partner event High special event on food security and nutrition)

Youth to create the message and also to deliver it as it appears to be more effective.

Not to reduce the examples of crises to COVID-19, but also to previous food crises.

A lot of policy tools are designed to re-enforce old thinking & systems and not the unknown world that youth entail, if f.e., they need to support to produce food as they see fit. According to all trend reports this means climate resilient, etc.!

Focus on a human capital agenda, connecting to a labour market and agri&food sector globally in transformation. Start creating room, in the governance for critical redesign, funding and investment strategies to reach the right destination.

Invest in data and internet infrastructure as a knowledge enabler for youth in rural areas, to be able to start economic activities. This also reduces the digital gap.

Create opportunities in the agrifood rural-urban continuum for hands on learning, not just academic research that doesn’t comprehend for most young people.

Let young people be the narrative of change, focus on DO and ACT for IMPACT instead of focusing on policy measurements for papers, theory and talk. 

Create room for experiment, demand based design, conditions for success for regional and thematic experiment

 

Overall comment (although this is already well captured in the report)

Sustainable food systems should be based on supporting a transition towards Agroecology which holds a lot of potential to create meaningful and fulfilling jobs but requires strong effort and investment in education. Hereafter is an extract from a technical paper on Agroecology & COVID19 highlighting the potential of Agroecology for youth which could contribute to the report (pending publication, FAO, 2021):  

Agroecological systems are highly diverse and complex because they are based on the careful management of the various elements of the socio-ecological system. Therefore, the management of agroecological systems is usually more knowledge and labour intensive than that of systems based on industrial modes of agriculture. This offers ample possibilities to create decent jobs in the agricultural sector, involving diverse areas of competence spanning from ecology to marketing to rural development. However, knowledge management is an integral part of agroecology. Therefore, dedicated efforts are needed to build the workforce equipped with the required competencies to fill these jobs across the value chain and food system. Calls to invest in and adapt information systems for famers, such as extension and advisory services, as well as scaling up capacity development as a reaction to the current crisis and a precondition for rural development and increased attractiveness of the agricultural sector have been made (FAO 2020b; Gregorio and Ancog 2020). However, besides that call, major investments need to be directed towards education (both academic and vocational) focusing on integrated sustainable agriculture including agroecological approaches. Besides the teaching and disseminating of knowledge on agroecological production practices, such as diverse cropping systems (agroforestry, inter-, cover- and relay cropping, crop rotations, integrated livestock and crop production systems etc.), soil fertility management (integrated nutrient management, building of soil organic matter, reduced tillage etc.) and integrated pest management (Wezel 2017; Altieri and Nicholls 2020), these curricula should also include business, infrastructure, and marketing skills for the development of strong and resilient local, regional and global marketing opportunities for agroecological products. These investments in education are needed to equip the young generation with the skills required to perform the high quality, knowledge-intensive jobs needed to develop and sustain agroecological systems. However, this needs to be connected with investments targeted at increasing the value of high-quality agricultural products (certification, protected origin etc.) and payment for ecosystem services and other externalities. Moreover, consumers’ understanding and awareness of the importance and value of sustainable practices in agricultural production, processing, and distribution needs to be raised in order to increase the readiness of buyers to pay appropriate prices for agroecological products. Jobs will only be attractive if salaries are competitive (which they are often not in the agricultural sector); in other words, the value created by agroecological systems (and the people working therein) must be paid for.

An example of an interesting youth network promoting organic farming is the Y-Farm in the Mekong region: Mekong Youth Farm Network (Y-Farm) is developed by enthusiastic youth of the countries in Mekong region. Y-Farm focuses on issues related to youth and farming activity in the region. Y-Farm develops an eco-system for engaging youth (young volunteers) with farming sector and related activities: which include Teaching farm, School farm/garden, Organic farming, Youth farmers and community farm. We, Y-Farm are under manages by Warm Hold Association which is Charity, Non-Profit and Local Organisation in Vietnam.

Other policy frameworks which could be referred to

• United Nations (UN). 2018. United Nations Youth Strategy - Youth 2030: Working with and for Young People
• IFAD’s Youth Action Plan supporting green economy and employment 
• FAO Rural Youth Action Plan (2021-2025)

Specific comments / suggestions

Page 25: Many parts of the world, but particularly Asia and Africa, are experiencing a “feminization of agriculture” or agrarian transitions that are deeply gendered (De Schutter, 2013). In South Asia, studies have shown how this has led to the reconfiguration of gender roles and an increase in women’s power and autonomy, but only in a few contexts (Pattnaik et al., 2018; Sugden et al., 2014).

• Not only this but also women are leading the transformation that is needed for sustainable food system. The case of the ZBNF in Andhra Pradesh is very interesting in that sense since its promoters acknowledge that the success of the uptake and dissemination of ZBNF practice relies mostly on strong involvement of women self-help groups

Page 30: Digital tools - especially those that increase access to information have “significant potential to improve efficiency, equity, and environmental sustainability in the food system” by reducing transaction costs to link sellers and buyers, increasing access to markets and broader sources of knowledge, providing evidence-bases for farmer decision making such as climate and market forecasts (World Bank, 2019). These technologies may help lower the costs of linking sellers and buyers; reduce inequalities in access to information, knowledge, technologies, and markets; help farmers make more precise decisions on resource management by providing, processing, and analyzing an increasing amount of data faster; and potentially reduce scale economies in agriculture, thereby making small-scale producers more competitive (World Bank, 2019).

• In South East Asia, it can also be mentioned that new technologies are somehow supporting a new generation of farmers (mostly organic / agroecological ones) who move back to rural areas after being graduated and spending time in cities and develop farms with innovative marketing approaches (Facebook groups, direct sales, basket sales…) & diversification of on and off farm activities (agro-tourism for instance)
• Cases studies and examples in the publication Agroecology Futures / part 4 on Agroecology & people, building the capacities of a new generation of Agroecology promoters: https://ali-sea.org/new-publication-agroecology-futures-inspiring-and-in...

Page 35: 3.1.3. Reimagining access to land for young people: Examples of good practices 

• Example of the Land Use Certificate scheme in Bhutan where the government is allocating land and providing training / upskilling mechanism to re-engage the youth in agriculture

Page 43 / Markets: 

• Example of the Community Supported Agriculture Network (CSA) in China where youth represents a very important part of the new (organic) farmers which is also encourages by the government policy
• Example of Open Food Network (OFN), an innovative initiative which has proven to be very relevant in the context of the pandemic. OFN is present in 9 countries. It is a global network of people and organizations working together to build a new food system through the development of open and shared resources, knowledge and software. It envisions a decentralized food system, made up with thousands of independent and diverse distribution hubs reconnecting producers to customers. Amongst the activities of OFN, it promotes open source and community-controlled platforms which both enables farmers to connect to eaters and to collaborate with other farmers. They help creating food collectives, managing food hubs, taking farmers’ market online with pre-purchases… These platforms offer an excellent example about how digitalization can work better for smallholders and consumers, while promoting sustainable approaches (given that they are mostly developed in support to organic and agroecological farming). It is very much youth centered 

Page 54 ICT & extension: 

• Example of Digital Green in India relying on video is a very successful example (it is a partner of FAO for both the work in Andhra Pradesh on ZBNF and for ComDevAsia for the communication plan of the UNDFF in Asia Pacific)

 

 

Dans l’ensemble, la V0 du rapport contient des analyses et conclusions extrêmement pertinentes et utiles pour promouvoir la participation et l’emploi des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires, et je souhaiterais féliciter les auteurs pour le travail effectué.

Je vous prie de bien vouloir trouver, ci-dessous, quelques réflexions et suggestions, informées par les recherches sur la participation des jeunes aux investissements agricoles responsables. Ces recherches ont été consolidées et publiées récemment dans le rapport « Stimuler et pérenniser les investissements des jeunes dans l’agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires : Recommandations politiques basées sur les enseignements tirés de onze pays africains » (2020, disponible en anglais et en français : http://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/CB1124EN) dont certaines sections pourraient éventuellement être utiles.

2. La V0 identifie les tendances principales de la participation des jeunes dans l’agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires, en se focalisant sur l’emploi, les ressources et le savoir.    
Pensez-vous que les tendances identifiées sont celles qui déterminent la participation effective des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires et, plus largement, les résultats en termes de sécurité alimentaire et de nutrition?  

La section relative aux tendances principales de la participation des jeunes dans l’agriculture et les systèmes alimentaires contient des données très pertinentes. Je souhaiterais suggérer de tenir compte également de certaines problématiques relatives au niveau d’éducation. Selon les régions, le chômage peut affecter plutôt les jeunes peu éduqués, ou – bien au contraire – les jeunes très éduqués. En Afrique du Nord (et dans certains pays où ce phénomène progresse également), les jeunes diplômés semblent être affectés par le chômage d’une manière disproportionnée [1]. Ce phénomène crée des défis importants, y compris sur les plans économique et social. En même temps, ces jeunes diplômés auraient la faculté de devenir des agents d’une transformation durable et inclusive des systèmes alimentaires. Cela nécessite, inversement, des incitations à l’investissement ciblées (et très différentes par rapport aux pays ou le manque d’accès à l’éducation est le défi principal) et des structures d’appui. 

La Tunisie s’est dotée de mécanismes d’appui et d’incitations à l’investissement des jeunes très intéressants à cet égard qui sont analysés dans le chapitre III du rapport RAI-JEUNES mentionné ci-dessus.

4. Le foncier et les autres ressources

Bien qu’il est vrai que l’héritage et la transmission intergénérationnelle demeurent des moyens importants pour les jeunes d’accéder au foncier, d’autres options s’imposent souvent pour des jeunes dans les sociétés caractérisées par une espérance de vie plus longue. Le rapport pourrait, selon moi, inclure davantage sur deux autres options de promouvoir l’accès des jeunes aux foncier : les mécanismes suivant une approche « par le marché » et les programmes de distribution de l’État [2].

Dans les deux cas, il existe des exemples réels qui bénéficient spécifiquement aux jeunes. En Tunisie, par exemple, les prêts fonciers (mis en place par l’Agence de promotion des investissements agricoles, et déboursés par la Banque nationale agricole) permettent aux jeunes diplômés de contracter un prêt à des taux d’intérêt très avantageux et des périodes de grâce généreuses. Plus récemment, certains pays ont également entrepris des efforts pour s’assurer que les programmes de distribution des terres agricoles bénéficient spécifiquement aux jeunes. La Loi foncière agricole du Mali prévoit ainsi un quota spécifique pour les groupes de jeunes lors de la distribution des terres. Ces exemples ont été étudiés dans le rapport mentionné ci-dessus (pp. 22 et 29 dans la version anglaise).

Dans sa forme actuelle, il me semble également que le rapport contient quelques exemples dont le bénéficie pour les jeunes pourraient être davantage expliqué. La section 3.1.3 mentionne spécifiquement qu’il contient des « bonnes pratiques ». Cependant, certains cas (dont notamment le cas des réformes agraires « par le bas ») sont présentés comme ayant un intérêt pour les producteurs opérant à petite échelle, mais l’intérêt spécifique pour les jeunes pourrait ressortir mieux.

Quant à l’accès aux financements, il me semble primordial de discuter également d’autres mécanismes de financement qui peuvent améliorer l’accès des jeunes au financement, y compris des fonds de garantie (surtout dans des pays où des institutions financières sont assez bien développées) ; et de tenir compte du besoin de fournir, dans beaucoup de contextes, des services de financement avec un accompagnement / appui technique. Des cas intéressants du Sénégal, de la Mauritanie et de la Tunisie ont été recensés dans le rapport mentionné ci-dessus (Chapitre III). 

6. S'appuyant sur les rapports et du HLPE les analyses de la littérature en général, le rapport présente plusieurs exemples de voies politiques potentielles pour relever les défis de l'engagement et de l'emploi des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires, et pour transformer ceux-ci en les rendant plus «adaptés aux jeunes».    
Le HLPE sollicite des contributions relatives à des études de cas qui pourraient illustrer des initiatives politiques réussies qui ont amélioré l'emploi et l'engagement des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires.

Le rapport contient une liste assez exhaustive de recommandations très pertinente, y compris celles relatives au droit à un travail décent, aux opportunités dans l’Économie sociale et solidaire (ESS), et à la participation des jeunes dans les prises de décision politiques, et je souhaiterais féliciter les auteurs à cet égard.

Je pense que le rapport pourrait également aborder plus en détail la question importante de la participation des jeunes dans le secteur agricole et les systèmes alimentaires en les considérant non seulement en tant que potentiels ouvriers/employés et/ou exploitants (dans l’agriculture primaire), mais également en tant qu’entrepreneurs et investisseurs. Il conviendrait alors de s’interroger sur les incitations à l’investissement (ce qui renvoie également à la question de « l’attractivité du secteur agricole ») qui peuvent être mises en place. Cela inclut non seulement les initiations financières (dont certaines ont été abordées dans mes remarques ci-dessus), mais également les incitations d’appui technique (incubateurs, accélérateurs, mais également une facilitation à l’information à travers des ‘guichets uniques’ physiques ou virtuels).  
 

[1] ILO. 2014. Is education the solution to decent work for youth in developing countries? Geneva, ILO.; Fiedler, Y. 2020. Empowering young agri-entrepreneurs to invest in agriculture and food systems – Policy recommendations based on lessons learned from eleven African countries. Rome, pp. 14 ff.

[2] Comité technique foncier et développement. 2020. La question de l’accès des jeunes à la terre : Éléments pour mieux concevoir et suivre les interventions et les politiques de développement rural dans la durée. (also available at http://www.foncier-developpement.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020_CTFD_ Lacc percentC3 percentA8s-des-jeunes- percentC3 percentA0-la-terre-VF-online.pdf).