A successful model to engage Senegalese youth in agriculture
Since 2015, FAO has been working to make Senegalese agri-food systems more youth-inclusive, through its Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for promoting decent rural employment and in partnership with the Agence Nationale pour la Promotion de l'Emploi des Jeunes (ANPEJ).
Senegal is a youthful country, with over 60 percent of people below the age of 24 years. Agriculture is the most important sector of the national economy, providing employment for 70 percent of the working population. Yet, employment opportunities for rural youth remain limited and of poor quality. In this context, facilitating the participation of the youth cohort in the agricultural sector has the potential to reduce rural poverty amongst youths and adults alike.
To this purpose, the FAO ICA Programme has been implementing various coordinated actions in the rural areas of the country, contributing to the implementation of the National Rural Youth Employment Policy and fostering an inclusive policy dialogue process. In December 2017, a guide for integrating decent rural employment in local planning was disseminated among local authorities, to inform the implementation of the National Rural Youth Employment Policy at local level.
The technical support provided by the Programme in Senegal went beyond policy dialogue and formulation, with FAO leading the design and testing of highly replicable models for youth engagement in the agricultural sector. In particular, ICA contributed to the implementation of the Youth Employment Policy by facilitating rural youths' access to agriculture-related information, through the ONER, and helping them launch their own agribusiness activities, through the MIJA platforms (Modèle d'Insertion de Jeunes dans l'Agriculture et les chaines de valeur agricole).
The MIJA platforms are small rural hubs for proximity agribusiness support, where rural youth learn about agricultural production, aggregation, transformation and service provision. MIJA expands the scope of the existing ANPEJ's youth integrated farms by providing young women and men with trainings not only in agricultural production, but also on market and business aspects, while supporting them in strengthening group cooperation and ensuring the economic viability of their business activities. The platforms are currently being piloted in the areas of Ndiawdoun (Saint Louis), Silane (Diourbel), Mbilor (Saint Louis), Léona (Louga), Soutouré (Kolda) and Fongolembi (Kolda).
So far, a training package on rural entrepreneurship has been developed and used in the 6 platforms. The package includes tools for the development of business plans and guidance on rural entrepreneurship. It has been developed in collaboration with several local stakeholders and institutions, which have contributed towards a multidisciplinary centralized training and incubation hub. As a result, 60 young agripreneurs have learned how to enhance their businesses, while other 90 youths have been trained in agricultural production, using the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) approach.
The MIJA initiative has ensured guidance and support not only to the young women and men participating in the platforms, but also to other youths in neighboring areas. Overall, the 6 MIJA pilots are expected to generate 1,500 direct and indirect farm and off-farm jobs and to positively impact the livelihoods of 12,800 households.
The FAO MIJA model has generated growing interest in Senegal, as an effective approach to support the engagement of rural youth in agribusiness. While the ICA Programme will end in May 2018, ANPEJ has already committed more than 500,000 USD for the infrastructure work needed to maintain and strengthen the platforms, guaranteeing the long-term sustainability of the initiative.
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