Online Discussion Forum: Engaging African Youth in Agribusiness in a Changing Climate

12 July - 12 August 2017. Engaging African Youth in Agribusiness in a Changing Climate. 

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), CGIAR Research Program on Livestock, the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN), AgriProFocus, and ICCO Cooperation have put together an online discussion forum to dialogue on the challenges and opportunities for engaging youth in agribusiness in a changing climate. The online discussion will run for one month to commemorate World Youth Skills Day (15th July) and International Youth Day (12th August) and will culminate in a webinar to wrap up the online discussion and develop a framework for concrete youth engagement in agribusiness. 

The discussions is focused on the following questions:

• What challenges do youth-led agribusinesses face in a changing climate?
• What are the business drivers of climate-smart agriculture (CSA)? And how does this appeal to youth?
• What career and business opportunities do CSA offer to youth?
• Across Africa, are there any concrete examples of successful or promising innovative CSA practices and technologies that the youth can learn from?
• Which policies and programmes should governments put in place to facilitate the involvement of youth in agribusiness?

Related:

27/07 Youth involvement in agribusiness: Examples from Africa

• The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s (IITA) Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) aims to change youth’s perception of agriculture to see it as an exciting and profitable agribusiness. IITA and the African Development Bank are also scaling-up the initiative through a program called ENABLE Youth Program. Through this initiative, 200 participants from 30 African countries have learned about agribusiness, new agricultural skills and technologies, climate change, mechanization and agricultural value chain approaches. 
• Another example of a training program is in Mali, where youths attended the Mali Agribusiness Incubation Hub (MAIH), established by the World Vegetable Center. At MAIH, they receive training on vegetable production, composting techniques, management of nurseries, the use of integrated pest management methods and vegetable farming for business to generate income.
• In Senegal, Directoire national des femmes en élevage (DINFEL), is comprised of women between 40-55 years-old, who are actively involved in passing on agricultural knowledge to younger generations. The group offers agricultural training programs that are attractive to the youth, especially under the current climatic conditions. One of the programs includes the rearing of drought tolerant livestock farming, growing of cashew nuts crop, poultry farming and mechanization of farming techniques that can reduce labor requirements.