Policies as key drivers in Engaging Youth in the Agricultural Value Chain By Obert Mathivha, CAYC MD 5 th September 2012, Dar es Salam, Tanzania

Africa is the only continent which does not grow enough food to feed itself. Kofi Anan, 14 October, 2010 For Africa to achieve food security, youths must be regarded as critical agricultural players who need & deserve special attention, support & follow- up, Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda, FANRPAN CEO, 2011.

1. OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN RSA Economic contribution – R66billion industry. Primary agriculture contributes about 2.3% to GDP, down from 15% in the 1950s & about 7% to formal employment. With its linkages into agro-industrial sector - contribute about 12% of GDP. The contribution of primary agriculture to formal employment is about 5%. However, agriculture has strong backward and forward linkages into the economy. The agroindustrial sector has a higher contribution of about 12% to GDP.

OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR CONTINUE... Dual agricultural economy – Commercialised & Subsistence. Vision of DAFF is to create an inclusive & prosperous agric sector through agrarian reform i.e. Land & Agrarian Policy Distribution of agricultural production –RSA has 2.76 million hectares of cultivated land, –The main agricultural activities are crop production, mixed farming, cattle ranching and sheep farming, dairy farming, game ranching, aquaculture, beekeeping, and winemaking (GCIS, 2010). about 4 million are engaged in agriculture for own consumption purposes. – Employment - Employment in agriculture has experienced long-term decline due to a number of factors (decrease in number of commercial farming operations i.e. average age of a farmer is 62 years, younger generation less interested in farming, market deregulation.

2. YOUTH DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE About 50 % of the total population is below the age of 25 (20.3 % is below the age of 10). This equates to around 10 million children, of which almost 75 % live in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. Unemployment sits at 25% Age – yrs - not a homogenous group e.g. School going youth, Out-of- school youth, Unemployed youth, Rural & Urban etc.

3. POLICY AS DRIVERS FOR YOUTH ENGAGEMENT & DEV INTERNATIONAL UNs MDG to halve poverty by 2015 – FAO, ILO, IFAD provides a framework on best practices in terms of policy, strategy & programmes UN World Programme of Action for Youth (UN WPAY) which emphasizes full and effective participation in decision-making of youth in communities and society is one of the priority areas of the programme. G8 (L Aquilla 2009 & Camp David 2012) through developmental agencies such as USAID & EU provide tools to support inclusive & evidence based policy harmonization, capacity building, implementation, monitoring & evaluations e.g. this Dialogue, CAADP Multi-Donor Trust Fund, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa etc.

POLICY AS DRIVERS FOR YOUTH ENGAGEMENT & DEV Continue… CONTINENTAL NEPAD-CAADP Provides a policy framework 8 TH PARTNERSHIP PLATFORM – NAIROBI – reviewing progress & sharing experiences and lessons emerging from country and regional level implementation of CAADP processes – What about Youth involvement as custodians of the future? What does reviewed data says? AYC & its African Youth Decade – provide a framework for mainstreaming youth dev in line with NEPAD objectives – Article 11 & 19 respectively. African Consensus and Position on Development Effectiveness (2011) - Guiding development partners to support the implementation of existing Continental sector policy frameworks developed on consensual basis and adopted by the African Union

Policy as key drivers Continue… NATIONAL LEVEL In the first decade of the post apartheid period, three prominent initiatives to attract youth into the agricultural value chain were introduced: the Agriculture Youth Development Initiative for SA (1998), YARD 2008) & Land Affairs YES of None of these initiatives managed to get institutionalized and therefore are not operational. Even the broadly acclaimed BEE policy lacks a provision for engaging the youth in agriculture but youth are represented in the BEE Council. Service Delivery Forum & CEO Forums remain platforms for Lobby & Advocacy. What is positive though is that the NYDA, National Policy & IYDS provides for a paradigm shift – Integrated Youth Dev Approach, with Youth Agency assuming a responsibility of being the custodians of youth mainstreaming & development in all sectors.

Policy as key drivers Continue… NATIONAL LEVEL SA Youth Development Policy regime is new, with NYDA Act 54 of 1994, National Youth Policy , IYDS Data Review in SA as in other Six participating Countries shows that although all have national agricultural and youth policies and programmes, these do not directly translate into coordinated efforts to mainstream (institutionalize) youth development in agric value chain in line with AYC, CAADP & in SA context, the National Youth Policy Although various policies & their strategies could be linked to development of youth, implementation efforts are undermined as some of these actions seem to be top-bottom ad hoc arrangements, lack the necessary political will coupled with passive citizenry, integrated approach & institutionalization needed to make them traceable in a systematic & orderly fashion.

CONCLUSION While there may be no specific policy on Youth and Agriculture, there is need incentives to be provided in order to encourage new entrepreneurs to start up an agribusiness. It is clear that there is a serious need to attract and involve youths in Agriculture

Recommendations The findings can be used as lobby and advocacy tool to initiate a process culminating into national agricultural youth summit that will pave a way for a more detailed and aligned Youth Empowerment Strategic Plan with clear objectives, illustrated areas of interventions, defined strategic tools, roles and responsibilities, timeframe, budgetary estimates & so forth. A continent-wide AgriYouth Campaign as suggested in the 8 th CAADP PP & appears in its Communiqué to take up Recommendations of this Review Report

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