By Adedotun Ajayi

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In Nigeria over 100 million people are aged between 15 and 24, the youngest population in the world. This age group according to the African Economic Outlooks is expected to double in number by 2045. Low profitability, poor security of land tenure, and high risks are just some of the reasons Nigeria’s youths are leaving rural areas to seek jobs in cities, a migration that could see the country with a shortage of farmers in the future.
Given that agriculture is one of the country’s biggest economic sectors, generating broad economic development and providing much of the population with food, this poses a serious threat to the future of farming and to meeting the demands of a rapidly growing urban population. Growing youth unemployment, ageing farmers and declining crop yields under traditional farming systems mean engaging youths in agriculture should be a priority now.
We have a growing population and unless we take agriculture seriously, we will have problems feeding ourselves in the near future. We can stimulate the interest of our youths in agriculture through modernisation of the system. First, since the attention now is more on formal education, we can integrate the practical side of agricultural studies into our regular school system in such a way that students will be involved in growing the food they eat in school.
The local and state government will be involved in the process, so they can help with the provision of farm implements and seedlings.
Oluwole Stephen who is a business strategist and a farmer stressed the need to engage youths in agriculture and how to encourage them, he said “The world is a global market now, you know, almost every young adult is on social media, if agriculture can be linked with social media, I mean the rise of social media and its attraction among young people with access to the appropriate technologies could be a route into agriculture if the two could be linked in some way. Mobile phone use in Nigeria is growing rapidly and people are now much more connected to sources of information and each other. Utilising these channels to promote agriculture and educate young people could go a long way in engaging new groups of people into the sector.
Also we can also improve agriculture’s image, the way youths see farming is different, they would rather want a white collar job because farming is rarely portrayed in the media as a young person’s game and can be seen as outdated, unprofitable and hard work. Greater awareness of the benefits of agriculture as a career needs to be built amongst young people, in particular opportunities for greater market engagement, innovation and farming as a business. The media, ICT and social media can all be used to help better agriculture’s image across a broad audience and allow for sharing of information and experiences between young people and young farmers.
There’s a need to strengthen higher education in Agriculture, relatively few students choose to study agriculture, perhaps in part because the quality of agricultural training is mixed. Taught materials need to be linked to advances in technology, facilitate innovation and have greater relevance to a diverse and evolving agricultural sector, with a focus on agribusiness and entrepreneurship. Beyond technical skills, building capacity for management, decision-making, communication and leadership should also be central to higher education. Reforms to agricultural tertiary education should be designed for young people and as such the process requires their direct engagement.
Also there’s a need for empowerment, these young adults should be empowered to speak up, If we are to enable youth to transform agriculture then the barriers to their engagement, such as access to land and finance, need to be addressed. National policies on farming and food security need to identify and address issues facing young people. As such youth need to become part of policy discussions at the local and national levels, whether as part of local development meetings, advisory groups or on boards or committees.
Land is often scarce and difficult to access for young people, and without collateral getting credit to buy land is nigh on impossible. Innovative financing for agriculture and small businesses is needed. For example, soft loans should be provided to youth who come up with innovative proposals in agriculture or microfranchising.
Speaking with Ibukun Adewa, agriculture teacher based in Akure and a farmer, stressed the need for Agriculture’s involvement in every school’s curricula. In his words “Primary and High school education could include modules on farming, from growing to marketing crops. This could help young people see agriculture as a potential career. There is nothing wrong with schools owning poultry farms and other businesses that help to develop and promote the agricultural value chain.
When we are able to develop interest among schoolchildren, we can take it further to other levels of education. We can also stimulate interest of young people who have graduated from institutions of higher learning by providing incentives that will encourage them to embrace farming at a higher level. Government can also help by making policies that make farming and allied professions attractive.
There should be greater public investment in agriculture, young people may see agriculture as a sector much neglected by the government, giving farming the image of being old fashioned. Investment in agriculture is more effective at reducing poverty than investment in any other sector but public expenditure on agriculture remains low.
Also to make agriculture more profitable, it is an easy statement to make but a difficult one to realise. Low yields and market failures in Africa reduce the potential of agriculture to be profitable and to provide people with a chance of escaping poverty and improving their quality of life. Making agriculture profitable requires that the costs of farming and doing business are reduced while at the same time productivity increases. Although large-scale commercial farming springs to mind, this is not necessarily the case, and small farms can be highly productive with low labour costs.
Of course all of these solutions come with their own hurdles: access to education and technologies, rural development, land rights etc. Africa has the highest number of youth in the whole world, and some of the most fertile soils – the two combined could be a force to promote agricultural development. Time to engage our youth in agriculture is now.