Does Agriculture Align with Youth Aspirations and Rights?

The recent unveiling of the 20th edition of the Tanzania Economic Update by the World Bank sheds light on the persisting challenges in Tanzania's agriculture sector, particularly regarding low productivity and labor reallocation issues. In light of this, there is a growing acknowledgment globally that involving youth in agriculture can yield numerous benefits, such as enhancing food security, stimulating economic growth and entrepreneurship, and preserving social heritage, especially in Africa whereby it is estimated that in 2030, young Africans are expected to make up 42 percent of the world’s youth and account for 75 percent of the those under age 35 in Africa.

Despite recognizing the potential advantages of youth inclusion in agriculture, there remains a lack of clarity on how effectively the agriculture sector is addressing the aspirations, rights, and interests of young people. Different regions and countries employ various strategies and have achieved varying levels of success in this regard.

So how can it be that agriculture, which employs around 65 percent of the Tanzanian populace, cannot seem to speak to most of the youngsters??

Desperate neediness, high joblessness rates, restricted admittance to land, and restricted youth cooperation in dynamic cycles, from certain perspectives, compel a significant populace. We can likewise refer to how agriculture is regularly connected with hard physical work and low compensation.?

Yet, uncoordinated policies and initiatives on youth land rights access remain a critical issue to resolve. If we go back to the 2016–2021 National Strategy for Youth Involvement in Agriculture, it required all local government authorities to set aside land for youth groups engaged in agriculture, while central government land policies and rules were rendered inert.?

Unfortunately, traditional norms and practices often view youth as a source of free labor for their families and elders, resulting in their limited access to land for wealth creation opportunities.

Another component restricting youth admittance to land is ageism, a sort of bias, very much like bigotry or sexism. Ageism against the youthful (otherwise called "adultism") is both legitimate and normal, rather than segregation in view of race, orientation, religion, sexual direction, capacity, or mature (for more seasoned individuals).??

Ageism has a daily impact on young people, sometimes publicly through legislative age limitations, but also silently through unfavorable attitudes, beliefs, biases, preconceptions, and stereotypes regarding youth. It deprives youth of any social, economic, or political authority, leaving them exposed to a variety of disasters.?

Given the circumstances, what is age? Should youth be characterized by their years or their personality? I am wagering on the last option.??

In the 21st century, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the definition of youth. In Tanzania, for example, the age range varies widely, typically spanning from 15 to 35 years old. However, it is common to encounter individuals older than 35 who exhibit youthful characteristics. Let us table this discussion for another time.??

Assuming we stop underscoring age to battle negative discernments that deter youth from preferring and prevailing in agriculture, we will unquestionably guarantee the area's prosperity.??

In Tanzania, there are alarming narratives surrounding the youth, depicting them as rebellious, lingering in disadvantaged areas, and lacking sufficient opportunities. These negative portrayals not only undermine their aspirations but also deprive them of their rights.?

Different privileges worth bringing up to help youth are the right to vote in our representative democracy, the right to privacy, the right to be free of physical punishment, the freedom to make decisions about their own lives, the right to prove ourselves, and the right to be treated with the same respect as everyone else. These and other rights, however, are restricted to youth due to ageism.?

In this way, where agriculture goes from here is not easy to refute. In any case, the fundamental part to consider is how agriculture and its worth chain can answer the freedoms of youngsters.??

Similarly, as the ICT area is where youth go for fame, titles and gossip, agriculture should be that go-to field where youngsters can feel like their interests are being created, aspirations realized, and rights met.??

With such a scenario, we can come to terms with the fact that there is still much work to be done to ensure that youth’s rights, interests, and aspirations are established and developed in response to circumstances such as cultural differences, economic issues, social mobility, the rise of new media, celebrity life, gossip, and other societal contexts such as gender stereotypes and geography from the start of their childhood.?

In Tanzania, youth aspirations are dynamic. They are significantly impacted by global trends like media, pictures, celebrity gossip, propaganda, and many others. Moreover, if you are a youngster, you do not have the foggiest idea what you are great at; you have such countless different potential capacities that it is challenging to conclude which course to take.??

You are more impacted by patterns than your goals and interests: Assuming your companions appreciate football, certainly, you will fall into a similar classification, paying little attention to what you desire.??

On the off chance that your family urges you to be a vocalist, regardless of whether it is something you appreciate, you will be impacted to do as such. You may be a superb essayist, yet you will not ever be able to find it since it is not the 'cool' thing to do.?

Beside these contending impacts, you are encircled by individuals you see on television, hear on the radio, or interact in web-based entertainment platforms. They have all the earmarks of being cheerful, effective, and carrying on with a day-to-day existence they appreciate, so it is normal to need to imitate them. You admire these individuals as good examples, endeavoring to satisfy hopes that exist just in the media. What about ‘Agri-celebrities’??

The greatest desperation you have as a youngster is about what your future will resemble. It is about who you will be tomorrow — what kind of life, what sort of work, and what kind of vocation you will have. The solution to this multitude of inquiries cannot come remotely; it needs to come from the inside. The incongruity is that none of these dreams exist in agriculture.??

With no fancy chain, flashy car, or celebrity life, agriculture is cornered by rural youth who lack access to quality education, facilities, IT infrastructure, marketing, and social contexts such as gender stereotypes and parenting at an early age. Lack of appeal is also often voiced by urban youth, who view agriculture as a 'filthy involvement' because of an absence of an "everyone's eyes-on-me" way of life. Thus, they consider agriculture to be an asset for poor people and a final area retreat.?

And, we cannot ignore efforts to improve the livelihood of the communities in agriculture that have been undertaken by government and non-governmental stakeholders, such as the ‘block farm scheme" inaugurated by the President, Hon. Samia Suluhu Hassan in 2022.

However, with limited business skills, enterprise development, and technology, it is still difficult for youth to find decent jobs and employment opportunities within the agricultural value chain. Moreover, two intecrate challenges related to agriculture in Tanzania are poor agricultural performance and a reluctance to finance start-up agricultural value chain businesses.?

Tanzania has good climate conditions that support agriculture and its value chain, and most of the people, particularly in the countryside, depend on agriculture as their main livelihood. Agriculture, on the other hand, is yet fully realize modernization; it is rain-fed, which results in low productivity.?

Furthermore, due to a lack of collateral and substantial risks, financial institutions rarely finance these start-up businesses in these circumstances. This has led to high youth unemployment, where most of the youth are job seekers, and most are competing for the limited job opportunities available in urban areas. These two issues relate to each other, as most regions are naturally endowed with agricultural advantages, but there is no clear integration of that resource into national development plans.?

Smallholder farmers, including youth and those dealing with the agricultural value chain, face several difficulties pertaining to production, market access, storage, stockpiling, packaging, and branding their products. In most cases, produce does not meet market requirements in terms of volume and quality, leading to low prices and low investment returns.?

Climate change is another interesting issue that affects agricultural practices, posing a challenge to farmers’ prosperity. Climate change is increasing the trend of poor, erratic, and inadequate rainfall in most parts of the country, hence affecting agricultural practices. Besides, access to arable land for youth is an interesting issue since most of the youth rely on the inheritance of land from their parents. This has led to the limitation of youth ownership in agriculture.?

Overall, challenges hindering youth access to agriculture significantly jeopardize the future of food security, efforts to combat climate change, and overall sustainability in the region. In Africa today, 60 percent of the populace is younger than 25, and by 2030, youth will comprise 42 percent of world’s youth.?

If the situation persists and efforts to enhance resilience in the region remain dominant, we may find ourselves asking the same question in the next decade: "Is agriculture meeting the goals, rights, and interests of youth?"?

Co-author: Ocheck Msuva