He started with four rabbits and a will to succeed. Seven years later, Samuel Agossou has built a home for his family and employs a dozen other young people in his business.

He says that with more support from governments, more youth in Africa’s rural areas could follow his example.

“Policy in African countries must work towards strengthening the capacity of young people to create their own jobs, particularly in rural areas where there aren’t really schools or enterprises,” he said.

Agossou was one of the stars of the Global Youth Innovation Workshop-Fair, which took place in Benin’s economic capital, Cotonou, from Oct. 10-13.

The fair, organised jointly by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Benin government, brought together young people from around the world to highlight enterprises in rural areas created and managed by youth. The event also marked the launch of a youth-run network to inspire and support such projects.

Speaking to IPS from his exhibition stand, where he was showing off the products of the rabbit-rearing business, which he started in 2002, Agossou said he began with three doe rabbits and one male.

“Today I have 700,000 rabbits. My profits have allowed me to buy a house for my family and to raise money to meet their various needs.”

Benin’s Minister for National Defence Issifou Kogui N’Douro, who presided over the official opening of the fair, said: “Finance is actually the biggest challenge to the implementation of the action plan developed in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. The African Union adopted a plan for the period from 2009 to 2018, aimed at reducing unemployment amongst the African youth.”

Government aid

Mirado Ratoejanahary, president of the Association Vonona, which assists rural communities in their efforts to achieve durable development in Madagascar, said regional governments should take note of global actions to really have an effect on young farmers.

“The innovation and creativity that we bring to development does not particularly need an international plan. Our actions must be supported by our individual governments … through direct and indirect aid from the budget,” said Ratoejanahary.

She explained she worked for a year in her aunt’s raffia (a natural palm fibre) manufacturing workshop until she was able to save enough money to start her own business.

“Six years after I left my aunt’s place, my raffia products are sold throughout the world and I hold an investment of 3,300 dollars in a youth organisation that I lead and in which I employ 10 other young people like me.”

Bright future

Charles Feridjini, the president of Benin’s Youth Delegation to the exhibition, said the youth should take a prominent place in any government policy.

“It is possible to overcome the poverty if our governments actually use the knowledge, expertise and the power the youth has; especially in rural areas.”

Mohamed Bourga, a young Syrian fashion entrepreneur, said his business meant that dozens of newlyweds no longer had to make the trip from his village to the capital, Damascus, in order to buy clothes.

Bourga dreams of selling his clothing in Syria’s major cities “and possibly importing wedding dresses.”

Agossou said in the right conditions, created by government and the youth, more jobs and better produce are sure to follow in Africa.

A transboundary water project is reinforcing the fight against food insecurity and poverty along the Komati River which flows through South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.

The community bought a truck to take their produce to market. Credit:

The project, run by the Komati Basin Water Authority (KOBWA), has brought 66 families together on a collective agriculture project in the northern Hhohho region of Swaziland. KOBWA is an intergovernmental body established by South Africa and Swaziland in 1993 for the joint management of the river.

Sipho Nkambule, the executive director of the project, told IPS: “KOBWA has established an important reservoir, 332 million cubic metres of water, which it is distributing to local communities to ensure sustainable and effective management of this scarce resource in this part of Africa thanks to the engagement of the governments of the two countries.”

According to Nkambule, the best way to do this was to relocate communities or families around shared agricultural projects. “This has already allowed for the establishment of large-scale activities and benefits a larger number of people at once,” says Nkambule.

“We relocated from different villages within 50 kilometres of here to set ourselves up in the village of Nyonyane, thanks to this project, and work on production of 200 hectares of sugar cane and vegetables taking advantage of a shared irrigation point put in place by KOBWA,” Luke Kunene, Nyonyane’s chief, told IPS.

“The acreage we’re now cultivating collectively is equal to the combined area that the families cultivated individually in our villages before we were brought together in Nyonyane. And after covering operating expenses and a contribution to the functioning of the project, the benefits are distributed on a pro rata basis according to the sizes of each plot,” Kunene explained.

According to the chief, previously each member of the community had their individual farms. But these were not viable because of the small size of the plots, which were only large enough for subsistence agriculture. “Now, we have a much larger project which brings us together and which generates revenue of between 4.5 and 5 million rand (750,000 dollars) each year.”

“For lack of water during most of the year, the ground is more and more dry,” says Henson Lukhele, a bus driver who lives in the area. “This is the basis of food insecurity, since agricultural productivity has clearly fallen. The project has revived agriculture in this part of the country and restored resources to the families who live there, including mine.”

Lukhele is supportive of the project, and says that effective management of water is an enormous challenge in this part of the country which has become arid.

Environmental manager Sibongaye Mkhatshwa believes that in the context of climate change, the difficulties facing Swaziland are on two levels: access to water and the struggle against food insecurity and hunger. “This project takes account of the current challenges and provides responses that can be felt in the daily lives of the residents of Nyonyane.”

Mkhatshwa told IPS: “Water is truly a scarce resource in Swaziland. This means that all waste water should be routinely recycled, purified and redistributed. When one visits the northern part of the country, one realises that the drought is an attack on agriculture.”

He adds that KOBWA has built a 24-kilometre canal which serves the agricultural community of Nyonyane.

“The project has even enabled the construction of two primary schools and a secondary school for residents. But another challenge is that of access to potable water for the entire village. We have water for irrigation, but drinking water remains a rare commodity,” says Phillip Maduna, a Nyonyane resident.

South Africa and Swaziland have contributed 60 and 40 percent respectively to the setting up and ongoing functioning of the project, valued at around 238 million dollars. The project has benefited some 2,000 Swazis and 6,000 South Africans since 2002, in terms of jobs, students attending the new schools and residents of the new communities.