FARA and ZEF Collaborate to Define Needed Investment for Jobs Creation in Agriculture

Participants from Ghana, Ethiopia, Tunisia and FARA experts during the event 

Researchers from the Forum forAgricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and counterparts from the Center for Development Studies (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STPRI), Ghana and the and National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAT), Tunisia met in Accra to consider some critical steps to creating jobs in the agriculture sector. 

The two-day meeting which was under the auspices of the Program of Accompanying Research with Agricultural Innovation (PARI), was a collaboration among the stakeholders, geared at defining the needed investment for the creation of jobs from agriculture.

The meeting also assessed, among other things, methodologies and other logistics required to run the study, whose outputs are expected to influence policy development and direction for investment into agriculture related jobs.

Speaking at the brainstorming session of the stakeholder engagement, Wole Fatunbi, Lead Specialist for Innovation Systems and Partnerships at FARA, underscored the need for leveraging jobs in agriculture to stem the tides of youth migration from Africa to the West and the Americas.

“Apparently, Africa, is least prepared for the explosion in its youth population. There is an urgent need for smart solutions going forward and all eyes are on the agricultural sector to generate the needed jobs”.

The stakeholders also intimated that the real puzzle for technocrats is what component of agriculture truly holds the potential to generate jobs and livelihood-compliant income for the youth. The said the conundrum is based on the prevailing data that suggests, that 60% of the continent’s population is already engaged in agriculture as a means of livelihood. That being the case, what specific investments will be required to generate the jobs and from whom will the resources be derived? The meeting concluded that the answers to these and other questions will require comprehensive studies done with proven methodologies.

Sourced from: FARA Africa