Irin

The Mukute family — 43-year-old Laiza, her husband, and three sons — obtained the plot in 2001 under a land reform programme that saw thousands of commercial white farmers evicted and their land allocated to black Zimbabweans.

Laiza’s husband was killed by lightning in 2007. Her sons have all moved to the capital to eke out a living as street vendors, leaving their mother only with their younger, teenage sister.

Like many young Zimbabweans, they see no future for themselves in the troubled sector.

Agriculture in Zimbabwe has long suffered from meagre State investment, poor training, and limited access to farming equipment and credit — not to mention the effects of climate change in a region that has repeatedly been struck by devastating droughts and floods.

About 60% of Zimbabwe’s population of 16 million is under the age of 24.

“My sons won’t hear anything about farming. They would rather be in the city, even though life is also tough for them there,” Mukute said, some 60km northeast of Harare.

This youth disillusionment is a phenomenon that extends well beyond the borders of Zimbabwe, according to Peter Wobst, who works on rural poverty reduction at the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

“Africa’s rural youth face particular barriers to accessing productive employment: young women and men tend to encounter challenges in accessing adequate knowledge, information, and education,” Wobst said.

“They have insufficient access to land, inputs, financial services, markets, and, ultimately, limited involvement in policy dialogue.”

This is despite the fact that the almost 200 million people in Africa aged between 15 and 24, as FAO puts it, represent “a large potential reservoir for the growth of the agriculture sector”.

Mukute is barely making ends meet. She can’t afford to replace her dilapidated ox-drawn cart and has sold off most of her livestock.

Only her 15-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, helps her in the fields. “Who knows, she may also join her brothers one day and leave me too struggle on my own,” she said.

These are well-founded fears.

“I can’t remain stuck here farming because it comes with hard labour,” Elizabeth said. “If I pass my O-level [exams] next year, my mother and my brothers will have to find money for me to go for A-levels and, after that, university. I want to be a lawyer and I will employ someone to come and help my mother with work on the plot.”

Whereas, the larger Mukute family used to grow maize, groundnuts, and tobacco on the full 10 hectares, now only two hectares are under cultivation.

Many families in Mazowe and rural areas across Zimbabwe have seen a similar exodus of younger members to cities, gold and diamond mining areas, and other countries.

Wonder Chabikwa, head of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, said the future of farming and food security in the country will depend on the commitment of young people to working the resettled land.

“Most of the youth seem not to have a conviction for farming, and the majority of those that will remain to till the land will do so because they have limited options,” he said.

This sentiment is echoed on the website of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, a separate association, which recognises that “the future of agriculture lies in the hands of the youths, and, therefore, there is [an] urgent need to unleash their potential and energy in that direction”.

To this end, for the past five years, ZFU has organised a Youth Agripreneurship Summit, which brings hundreds of young farmers together to acquire leadership skills, network with key players in the sector, and learn about new technology.