1. Aim of this exploration Youth in developing countries play an important role in facing the challenges on access, availability and use of food worldwide with more population growth, urbanization, globalization and climate change ahead. Globally, young people account for approximately 24%of the working poor, particularly in Africa. This exploration is an inventory of the ambitions of key international organizations to engage with youth in food systems. This exploration is in response to a growing interest of engaging youth in a food security-agriculture-employment interconnection. It is also a quest as the first overview of activities going on and knowledge questions that are present in the Netherlands and abroad with focus on developing countries. This is reflected in the work of FAO on rural youth and employment and CGIARs commitment to improving the enabling environment of youth in agri-food systems as a priority of their future work. Key events include CGIARs workshop on youth in agriculture in Montpellier as organized by IITA, The African Development Bank and the CGIAR Consortium and a recent seminar on the future of food (organized by KIT, YPARD, AgriProFocus and CDI). This exploration outlines the first findings of key themes and examples of involvement of international and Dutch organizations on engaging youth in agriculture. It is based on desk research and personal contact of the Food and Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) Office via telephone and email. The organizations that are interested are also presented per subtheme in a first version of a mindmap. This is not a static finished document; there are many other interesting organizations to include, so please feel free to contact the F&BKP for suggestions. The same goes for this paper; these organizations serve as the first overview guides on current trends and initiatives in the field of youth in agriculture for F&BKP. It serves as a basis for work within the F&BKP Office that will firstly explore the need amongst actors of joint knowledge developing sharing activities within the Platform that could help them achieve their ambitions. 2. Why engage with youth in agri-food systems? In developing countries, over 60% of the population is below the age of 25 and this youth population will only continue to rise with the high trend of global population growth.1 Agriculture remains the dominant source of youth employment (57%of 15 to 19 year olds) and even under the most optimistic scenarios, nonfarm and urban sectors are not expected to be able to absorb more than two-thirds of youth labor market entrants over the next decade.2 However, the agricultural sector is marked by informal, vulnerable and low-productive labor. About 90% of rural lands in Sub-Saharan Africa are unmapped and therefore highly vulnerable to land grabbing and expropriation with poor compensation, hence why youth do not find the agri-food sector attractive now or in the future. Working the land has become highly unpopular. It is associated with hard physical work, low wages, uncertainty and dirtiness. Rural areas lack the facilities that are offered in urban areas. Young people prefer white-collar jobs in the cities and the projections on future urbanization rates illustrate those growing figures. The agricultural sector has to transform and become a more youth-friendly and stimulating environment.
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Engaging youth in food systems
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