ACFA: The Field Is Set For The MATCH To Kick-Start

This ACFA community farming scheme is expected to create a Spotlight on Opportunities for mainly Rural Youth. And it will highlight some of the critical issues facing the women and other farmers in the rural areas. it will also highlight the roles stakeholders must play in order for more young people living in rural areas to have access to (formal and informal) employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Since this will break the cycles of poverty and transform rural economies. 

If the various stakeholders in the agricultural industry support this development, they have lots to gain from working to support the youths. Additionally, this point up will convene a diverse group of stakeholders, ranging from youth development specialists, to agricultural specialists, to value chain specialists. These distinct communities of stakeholders will tackle complex challenges together, often for the first time, and define next step needed to be taken to increase the knowledge and technological advancement of the various participants/beneficiaries while promoting cross-sector collaboration.

For the purpose of this discussion, “rural” will refer to the non-urban context, including peri-urban contexts, and include both agriculture and non-agricultural economic activities that take place in these areas. Selected presenters are asked to explain the specific context to which their expertise and programmatic example(s) pertain (e.g. very remote rural, peri-urban, etc.), and how transferable the lessons learned are to other contexts and when working with different cohorts of young people (e.g. different age ranges, socio-economic backgrounds, etc.) in rural areas.

Part of the focus will be on agriculture (both on-farm and off-farm); and the Spotlight also looks at the opportunities and challenges associated with youth employment in non-agricultural sectors such as tourism, manufacturing, and services. This is a critical issue as agriculture alone is unlikely to provide enough employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people.