To celebrate Earth Day, FAO and the Future Food Institute organized an online event marathon on the importance of sustainable food systems to regenerate the earth. The marathon featured events in more than 20 countries in different regions of the world, with participants ranging from small entrepreneurs to scientists, young entrepreneurs, policy-makers, experts in different fields and farmers, to share knowledge on successful experiences in making food systems more sustainable.

In this context, the event Empowering Youth: Responsible Investment in Food Systems for Sustainable Development was organized focusing on the experience and lessons learned in supporting responsible youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Tunisia and Senegal.

Empowering young agri-entrepreneurs and youth to create their own agricultural enterprises is fundamental to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals. In countries like Tunisia and Senegal, young people are affected by high unemployment rates and are often forced to migrate from rural areas in search of opportunities. Rural areas are thus abandoned, concentrating most of the poverty and losing the innovation that youth could bring to the agricultural and food sector.

During the first part of the event, dedicated to Tunisia, experts from the Agricultural Investment Promotion Agency (APIA) and the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Tunisia (INRAT), FAO's partners in the country, presented the work being done to address the challenges facing young people.

First, INRAT conducted a diagnosis of the situation of young agri-entrepreneurs and developed practical solutions to overcome the main challenges identified through the application of the Strategic planning tool - Stimulating and sustaining investments of young agri-entrepreneurs. The tool was developed with the support of the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture.

During the event, several remarkable results related to this process were presented. For example, the formation of a Pôle de réflexion sur la promotion des jeunes investissements agricoles (Pôle PRIJA) which has developed concrete recommendations to advance this issue. These recommendations will be tested in the coming months in the country through the Pôle agri-accélérateur des investissements des jeunes (Agri-accelerator Hub), a program that will provide support and incubation services to young people aged 18 to 40 with innovative project ideas in the region of Béja, in the north-west of the country, which is particularly affected by unemployment among young graduates.

The part dedicated to Senegal began with a video message from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Equipment, Professor Moussa Baldé, who highlighted the efforts of the Senegalese government to establish its own environments for sustainable investment in agricultural sectors. Then, two young Senegalese agro-entrepreneurs recounted their experience as beneficiaries of incubation services support to take the initiative to organize support networks between entrepreneurs at the national level, including incubation services.

Watch the full event from minute 1:03:26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GreAvKOYD6U