#AskAg Twitter Chat: Youth Employment in Agriculture

Information: 

Join us on June 11 for an #AskAg Twitter Chat on Youth Employment in Agriculture, co-hosted by USAID, Making Cents International, IFPRI and Winrock International.

Youth make up about one fifth of the population of developing and emerging economies and, according to the International Labor Organization, face global unemployment levels from 10 to 28 percent.  At the same time, higher food prices and the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050 make efficient and productive farming more important than ever.

How do we communicate the full range of choices available to young people to work in agriculture sector which could help us all to meet the twin needs for both agricultural growth and youth employment?

Unfortunately, the image of production farming isn’t popular with many young people in developing countries. Many see a farming career as working on a small, non-mechanized plot for little profit and with little future. And those who are interested in farming face challenges, including limited access to capital and credit, a lack of relevant skills, and difficulty finding available and affordable land.

Opportunities exist, both for local producers to capture growing domestic markets and for workers to meet demand for farm-related jobs in transportation, trade, machinery, and extension. What measures can the international community and developing country leaders design to help young people seize these opportunities? By providing youth the opportunities to bring their energy, vitality, and innovation to the business of agriculture, we all benefit from the potential transformative impact on economic growth and social development.

Twitter Accounts to follow

Guiding questions

1. What do you see as opportunities in production or non-production aspects of the agriculture sector that could make it appealing to young people as a career?
2. How easy or hard is it for young people to get land for farming either in Africa, Asia or Latin America? What ways can young people get land to farm?
3. What do you see as the challenges or barriers for getting young people interested in agricultural employment whether as a career or as transitional work?
4. What methods work in getting young men and women the knowledge they need to effectively participate in the agriculture sector?
5. What kinds of skills and assets do young people bring to the table to contribute to agriculture value chain competitiveness?
6. Do you have examples of programs that work to help young people enter farming or value chains and succeed? What could we do differently?

How to participate

• If you are new to Twitter, visit Twitter.com to sign up for an account. (For more tips on getting started, check out our Twitter 101 Training.)
• Explore the guiding questions that will be discussed during the chat.
• Join us for discussion by using the hashtag #AskAg and following @Agrilinks.
• You can also follow on Twubs or through the livestream below.

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