Exploring the youth-agriculture nexus: implications on household food security and livelihoods.

Abstract

The youth-agriculture nexus in Africa is critical to food and nutrition security, employment and livelihoods at multiple scales through multiple pathways. The Zimbabwean government, like several other African governments enacted policies and interventions to harness this opportunity. Despite the government's efforts, getting youth attracted or interested in agriculture has been a challenge while success has been elusive. The information gaps characterising most of Africa's policy environment are contributing to the failure of most youth policies and interventions. Robust and compelling evidence on the intersection of youth and agriculture is lacking. It is against this background that the study explores the youth-agriculture nexus and its implications on household food security and livelihoods. The study's specific objectives include determining the factors affecting rural youth participation in agriculture; examining the factors influencing migration willingness and choice of destination; determining the factors affecting life satisfaction and lastly; examining the factors influencing livelihood choice and food security among youth. The study examines the youth-agriculture intersection from various disciplines, considering noncognitive, demographic, social and economic factors. This is because of the complex and multi-dimensional nature of the youth-agriculture nexus. A pre-tested structured questionnaire collected data from 200 youths across three districts of Mashonaland East Province in Zimbabwe. Various econometric techniques of discrete choice and descriptive statistics analysed the data. The rights to anonymity, informed consent, and confidentiality were upheld to make the study ethical. The descriptive statistics show that most of the youth were males, household heads, unemployed, married, looking for a job and have a secondary level of education. Also, the results show that most of the youth in the study were food insecure, dissatisfied with their lives and willing to engage in migration. The study sheds light on the importance of noncognitive factors (expectancy and subjective task value) in understanding the youth-agriculture nexus. The results reveal that expectancy, utility and intrinsic value and cost statistically significantly influences youth career decisions and life outcomes. It follows that youth with expectancy, intrinsic or utility value engage and spent more hours in agriculture. Further, youth with utility or intrinsic value have high life satisfaction compared to their counterparts without utility or intrinsic value. The study also reveals that traditional factors such as age, marital status, level of education, access to land, household size and employment status statistically significantly influence youth career decisions and life outcomes. The study concludes that both noncognitive and traditional factors are critical in understanding youth career decisions and life outcomes and combined can provide a holistic and better understanding of the youth-agriculture nexus. In line with the literature, the future of agriculture and food security in rural Zimbabwe is uncertain. The results reveal that most of the youth are leaving or losing interest in agriculture. In the study, over 70 percent of the youth expressed low interest in engaging in the sector in the coming years. Second, a relatively high number of youths were willing to migrate. The results show that 69 percent of the youth in the study were willing to engage in migration. Last, low life satisfaction was a general characteristic among the youth. Over 60 percent of the youth in the study expressed dissatisfaction with their lives. Further, the study reveals a shift in some youth narratives in agriculture. First, a significant number of youths in the study opted for non-agricultural livelihoods over agriculture. Second, international migration has accelerated in rural Zimbabwe. Thus, rural migration is no longer limited to internal migration as many youths opted to engage in international migration. With a shift in youth narratives and uncertainty in agriculture and food insecurity in rural Zimbabwe, the study recommends the integration of noncognitive factors in policy decisions. Further, the study suggests the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach to the design of youth policies and interventions in agriculture. Also, the study recommends the need to set up multi-stakeholder platforms in policy decisions, planning and investment. Last, policy priority should focus on closing the large disparities between urban and rural Zimbabwe in terms of social services such as education, credit and communication.