Hard work and hazard: Young people and agricultural commercialisation in Africa
What is it?
Many young people use the rural economy to build their livelihoods. However, it is often the experience of working at home as children, rather than formal education, that enables them to engage with the world of work. Family plays an important role in co-constructing livelihoods with young people, and they often capitalize on family assets, including access to land, capital and skills. Contrary to popular belief, land availability does not appear to a constraint on young people’s engagement in crop production. In addition, many combine farm and non-farm work, but they are not free from vulnerabilities, nor from personal or business-related hazards.
These are some of the main findings of our latest open access paper that explores how young people build rural livelihoods in agricultural commercialization hotspots in Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
HIGHLIGHTS
This post is based on the open access article by Yeboah, T., Chigumira, E., John, I., Anyidoho, N. A., Manyong, V., Flynn, J., & Sumberg, J. (2020). Hard work and hazard: Young people and agricultural commercialisation in Africa. Journal of Rural Studies, 76, 142-151.