Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
The environment in Zimbabwe over the past decade has allowed for a unique and interesting case study regarding the evolving relationship between youth and agriculture.

According to a Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (Farnpan) 2012 report on Current and Emerging Youth Policies and Initiatives with a Special Focus on Link to Agriculture, Zimbabwe Case Study Draft Report, perceptions of agriculture held by young people are not static, but differ according to their contexts and immediate environments.

“In the Zimbabwean case we found that the institutional and policy frameworks relating to youth and agriculture were too broadly defined, and did not intersect in a distinct and sector specific way. What was revealed in the literature is that young people are trending towards proactively creating their own “spaces of participation” in the agro-economy rather than rely on or wait for specific government programmes and incentives. There are also a number of reasons for the reduced interest in agriculture by young people, and these present opportunities for the policy-makers to re-evaluate their strategies.  Agriculture as a whole needs to be re-branded to appeal to young people, to make them see it as an avenue of wealth-creation rather than a subsistence mechanism.”

The report says the existing agricultural policies, for example, do not differentiate between the different regional agricultural priorities. In regions with high rainfall and agricultural productivity, young people are more willing to engage and create opportunities for themselves along the agricultural value-chain.

In regions with lower rainfall and agricultural output, young people tend to seek alternative economic avenues such as small-scale mining although they will seasonally partake in subsistence agriculture.

The difficulty in accessing credit facilities in the country means that young people have to find creative ways to finance their agricultural projects, or to start up a business further down the agricultural value-chain. This is also exacerbated by poor coordination and organisation among young people in the different regions.

While there are a number of traditional challenges impeding young people from venturing into the agriculture sector as farmers, more and more youths in the country are getting involved.

In August 2019, progressive youths from across the country came together and formed the Youth in Agriculture (Zimbabwe) — Apex Council Organisation.

According to the Apex Council in August 2019, Zimbabwean youth in agriculture and young farmers from all parts of the nation came together for the  inaugural Youth in Agriculture conference. The conference was supported by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement, policymakers, developmental partners and the private sector. The conference gave birth to the umbrella body that serves as a bridge between the Government and the young farmers associations.

“The Youth in Agriculture Apex Council was born out of the need to articulate youth in agriculture issues at policy and implementation level, advocating and coordination of the issues affecting the youth in agriculture.

“Youth represents approximately 60 percent of the population and the majority of the youth are in the rural areas relying on agriculture. Currently, youth participation in agriculture is constrained by challenges in accessing land, knowledge gap and lack of professional capacity, financing as well as limited  awareness of sector opportunities,” says the Apex Council.

Apex Council board chairperson for Youth in Agriculture, Mr John Muchenje said the vision of the organisation is to see a developed and sustainable Zimbabwean agricultural sector where youth play an active and significant role.

“Our mission is to empower youth in agriculture to be responsible and contributing leaders in the agriculture and development of Zimbabwe and positioning the youth at the forefront of agricultural, production and value chain,” said Mr Muchenje.

He said through working with developmental partners the organisation aims to rebrand agriculture as a career and business of choice, which provides young people with opportunities to have an impact on issues which include food insecurity and livelihoods, import substitution, employment creation and export generation.

“Apex Council objectives are to change the perception of agriculture among Zimbabwean youth and encourage entrepreneurship, engage provincial leadership concerning key issues raised by youth and young people in agriculture and find lasting solutions, urge young farmers to join Government programmes, engage contract firms and Government on input matters, promote stakeholder-led participation and development through articulating issues being faced by young farmers at provincial level, creating an Annual Interface for Youth in Agriculture with the Provincial State Ministers and Agricultural leaders at provincial level (lands officers, command, DAs and mechanisation), getting views and concerns from the farmers for actioning, organise provincial and national awards for the youth in agriculture,” he said.

Mr Muchenje commended the Government on the law on streamlining the sizes of all individual farms in the country in a move expected to result in more young people and women having access to land after failing to benefit from the land reform programme.

He said they were happy as young farmers since land is a national resource which must be shared equally among those who prioritise production.

“We’ve been pushing for productive youths and women to benefit from land and we feel that this is the right time for that. President Mnangagwa has been on record saying more land will be availed to us. We believe this is the time and we commend his Government for that positive move.