Monday, October 25, 2021
News and Views from the Global South
OPINION: Keep Family Farms in Business with Youth Agripreneurs
Finding a way to allow youth to contribute their natural and ample energies to productive causes is increasingly the touchstone issue that will determine future prosperity.
Aflatoxins: Poisoning Health and Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa
Aflatoxin contamination is a growing threat to trade, food and health security in sub-Saharan Africa, where smallholder farmers are challenged by food production and now climate change, researchers said.
IITA Promotes a Solution that Puts Smallholders’ Food, Nutrition and Income in a Bag
Sometimes the best solutions can appear to be so simple that it’s hard to imagine why they weren’t invented centuries ago.« Previous Page
Agribusiness, Research and Rural Economies
Poverty in Africa is predominantly rural.
The continent is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030.
About 380 million women, children and men in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than US$1.25 a day, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
However, with 80 million small farms in sub-Saharan Africa producing 80 per cent of agricultural goods, smallholder farmers have a pivotal role in resolving the financial and food crises and unleashing Africa’s potential to feed itself. This is even more crucial when we consider that even rural families buy around 50% of their food.
Research and encouraging the involvement of women and youth could help change this trajectory. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and IFAD work to address the continent’s most pressing challenges: hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and resource degradation.
With over 60% of all employed women in sub-Saharan Africa working in agriculture and producing up to 80% of foodstuffs for household consumption and sale in local markets, research on their roles in the sector is crucial.
Getting Africa’s youth involved in agriculture and agricultural research was the IITA’s CARE project’s mainstay.
CARE, an acronym for Enhancing Capacity to Apply Research Evidence CARE, was a programme during which 80 young researchers were mentored with training in methodology, data analysis, and scientific writing to produce research evidence and recommendations for policymakers.
The research findings of this group highlighted the dire need for inclusive and “youth-friendly” policies in agribusiness and rural economic activities.
Inter Press Service (IPS) has followed the programme from its inception and highlighted many of the successful advances made by the participants. It highlighted critical findings, including that the key to resolving Africa’s food crisis was “youth engagement” in the sector.
While the CARE project may have come to an end, IITA Africa-wide network of scientists continues to grapple with ways to improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity.
IPS has had a strong involvement in this project and since 2018, IPS trainers and journalists have worked with IITA and CARE in capacity building of journalists in order to create awareness and understanding of agricultural research, agribusiness, and the involvement of youth in the sector.
IPS has been following and reporting on agriculture research in Africa and the developing world. This collection brings together a broad range of features and opinion editorials, highlighting the impact on addressing food security and employment.
The Week with IPS
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
