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Introduction
Increasingly, (inter)national development organisations are investing in programmes
for youth in agribusiness throughout Africa. In Uganda, 78% of the population is
under 30 years of age according to the United Nations Population Fund (2011), and
youth unemployment is a main concern for major development stakeholders.
With agriculture as the backbone of the national economy, engaging youth in
productive and sustainable agribusiness is an important objective for many of the
development organizations.
However, the burning question is what the most effi cient strategy is to tackle
constraints and provide opportunities for Ugandan youths.
Methods
The study adopted ethnographic research methods: 6 months of fi eldwork were
conducted in Uganda, interviewing 24 representatives of development organisations
and 111 young agripreneurs scattered across the four regions.
Discourse analysis revealed the theories of change of the various development
organisations, while narrative analysis of the interviews with agripreneurs showed
(1) what they perceive to be an enabling environment for their agribusiness, and (2)
the impact of development programmes on the various groups of agripreneurs.
Results and Discussion
• The main concepts of youth, agribusiness and agripreneurship, are defi ned in very
different ways by development organizations and youths, pinpointing a tension
between policies and practices.
• Development organizations largely adopt one of two approaches: public- or
private-sector driven (see Figure 1).
• These approaches have different social impacts on the benefi ciaries.
• Youths are not homogeneous: there is great variation in youths’ capacities,
constraints, needs and ambitions, in terms of location, age and gender.
• The broad barriers/ issues around youth access to productive resources were
identifi ed through fi eld and desk based research (see Figure 2).
• Our research on the implementation of development programmes in Uganda,
shows the limited effi ciency of such programmes – due to scarce scientifi c
knowledge of diverse youths’ capacities and constraints.
Conclusion
Development programmes should account for variability (location, age and gender)
when designing and implementing their youth-centred programs.
Further scientifi c research is needed to understand youths’ needs, capacities
and constraints to formulate programmes that can effi ciently sustain the enabling
environment which can ignite effective youth-led agribusiness.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the CIALCA project and IITA for supporting the fi eldwork in
Uganda. We are grateful for the University of Bologna and Radboud University for
providing academic supervision of the study.
References
UNFPA 2011. Population Dynamics in the Least Developed Countries: challenges
and opportunities for development and poverty reduction. Accessed on 19/10/2016
on: www.unfpa.org/sites/default/fi les/pub-pdf/CP51265.pdf
Towards effective youth-led agribusiness
programmes in Uganda (and elsewhere)
Maya Turolla1,2,3, Marc Schut3, Joanna Scales3, Laurence Jassogne3, Perez Muchunguzi3
BY
CC www.iita.org | www.cgiar.org
1=University of Bologna; 2=Radboud University Nijmegen; 3=International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Despite discrimination in access to land and assets, women are an important
sub-category of youth, which strives for leading positions in agribusiness.
Picture by Maya Turolla in Atiak, Northern Region, Uganda, April 2017.
Figure 2. Summary of the major barriers/ issues around youth access to productive
resources.
Figure 1. Two different youth-centered approaches adopted by development
organizations in Uganda.
• Getting potentially all agripreneurs
on board
• Working with groups
• Sampling: project-based
application through government
structures
• Implementation through
government structures
• Investment: Providing start-up
capital
• Selected number of agripreneurs
• Working with groups
• Sampling: mobilization through PS
and public networks
• Implementation through PS
companies, quick-in – quick-out
• Investment: Providing market
linkages, inputs (seeds,
chemicals), training / capacity
building and ready market
Private-sector driven approach Public sector approach
Capital
Land
Training
Mentor-
ship
Barriers
Diffi cult to access funds
Youth have limited collateral
Require quick results on investment
Lack of tailor made fi nancial products for youth
Old and wealthy own land
Access to ownership issues
Quality and quantity matters
Training required for applied skills
Follow-up and continued input
Appropriate role models needed
Role of social capital
Guidance of youth activities
Instability in prices
Transport problems
Local, regional and national market access for economic growth
Acces
to
Markets
A0 POSTER MAYA TUROLLA.indd 1 15-11-17 16:10
