In today's episode, we focus on the role of youth in building the agriculture and food systems of the future. Why is involving youth in agriculture so important now and what support do the need to help make ours the Zero Hunger Generation?
Last week, we explored how targeted social protection programs can help break cycles of rural poverty by empowering family producers and improving people's nutrition. But we also learned that these programs alone are not enough to end rural poverty traps -- agricultural and rural development are needed to support growth and prosperity in these areas.
To feed a world of 9 billion people by 2050, it's estimated that we need to increase agricultural production by some 60 percent. To achieve this, a new generation of farmers and innovators need to be encouraged to take the reins and apply their manpower and fresh ideas to food production.
Young people growing up in rural areas today face a myriad of challenges, ranging from a lack of jobs and opportunities, to limited access to land, resources and spaces where policy is made. We talk to young entrepreneurs and innovators from Nepal to Jamaica about projects they designed in response to concrete food challenges, and to the outgoing chair of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) about the importance of bringing young voices into global policy spaces.
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