Why agribusiness is the only hope for the unemployed youths in Uganda

By Robert Bangizi

Africa is a youthful continent with over 920 million people, 60% of whom are between the ages of 15 and 24. A large percentage of these young people live on less than $2 a day.

The estimated youth unemployment rate in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the highest in the world at 40%. The youths are the primary productive human resource of socio-economic development for any economy and, therefore, essential to locate their role in the mainstream development of any nation.

Youth in Uganda is diverse in ethnicity, religion and socioeconomic backgrounds. This diversity necessitates customised initiatives to meet needs and activate untapped potential of the youth. Most African countries have high potential in agriculture, but poor farming, low response to improved technologies adoption and low rate of value addition have adversely affected returns.

While poverty is more pronounced in smallholder farm households, over 92% of the youth in employment are working poor and are also overrepresented among the extremely poor (ILO, 2015). The youth are responsive to robust and transformative approaches to their immediate needs. 

Situation of youth unemployment in Uganda

The current youth unemployment in Uganda leaves a lot to be desired considering the youthful time being wasted and unpreparedness of the youth for future trends. It is estimated that youth unemployment rate is over 62% and in each year, over 400,000 young people are entering the job market (The World Bank, 2014).

Agriculture is one of the key sectors that require special attention to solve youth unemployment situation in Uganda. For example, at least 80% of the Ugandan population is engaged in agricultural activities, about 90% of rural households generate their livelihood from agriculture and over 70% of Ugandan population is employed in agricultural line activities.

However, only 32% of the households that engage in agriculture belong to money economy or do it the agribusiness way ( NPHC, 2014). The youths, therefore, need to be attracted and retained in agriculture sector in order to solve their current problems. 

Why should youths be attracted and involved agribusiness

A large proportion of the Ugandan population is dependent on agriculture for employment. It is the source of livelihood for over 70% of the Ugandan masses, 26% of Uganda GDP comes from agriculture and Uganda also earns a large proportion of foreign income from agriculture products trade.

Of course, non-agricultural sectors are also rapidly developing in the Uganda but not really directly affecting the largest population. Besides, Uganda has a comparative advantage in agriculture compared to other east African countries where we are member of east African community. 

Poverty reduction: Agriculture is a backbone of the economy there can be no better way of reducing poverty than building a strong agricultural sector. The youth and those who have access to education and infrastructure should venture into the sector and revive it from its troubled times.

The youth can engage in agriculture along the existing various value chain nodes including trade in agri-inputs, production, transportation, marketing, agro-processing, trading and at consumption level; restaurants are cheap to start and they are very lucrative. 

Agricultural research needs young brainpower: If you are a "young" into development research, agriculture may be the right place for you. Numerous stories from East Africa and other places have shown that research revolutionises agriculture and transforms livelihoods.

Today, more than before, climate change and a growing demand for nutritious food are for fresh ideas and renewed knowledge to explore ICT in agriculture, foster climate-smart agriculture and innovate in the sector to power future growth. 

Application of innovations: Agriculture in Uganda is still based on traditional means of farming. For example, agriculture is still based on rain fed forecast for yields. This is outdated, improved technologies both intermediate and affordable can transform harvests. Young enterprise managers who would be integrated with foreign techniques of production as compared to their aged counterparts could be keener to undertake innovation activities to reduce this over-dependence on climate. 

Although undertaking innovation could attract high expenses on fixed costs, the benefits are more long-term in nature and they increase returns. While huge investments could require high capital base, there are many options of fundraising that can be employed by the youth. 

Better options for youth involvement in agriculture

• The youth should take part in making/starting NGOs for development of Agriculture
• The Government should develop agricultural industry in villages for better employment chances for rural youth and agriculture production
• There should be a conducive environment to allow highly educated people to stay in their villages and participate in agricultural activities than migrating to cities and towns
• Rural youth should help their parents in agricultural activities and take interest in getting more agricultural knowledge
• Both the government and the corporate sector must increase the number of scholarships for agriculture students to enhance research and development.
• Agricultural youth credit should be offered and monitored
• The youth programs authority should be created to verity and supervise  implementation of youth programs in the country
• Agriculture should be emphasized at primary school level in practical terms through school gardening projects, at secondary level and tertiary institutions
• Platforms to discuss a agribusiness issues, youth unemployment and rural innovations should be encouraged to bridge knowledge gaps among the youth
• Uganda should increase agricultural budget allocation to 10% as per the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) where she is a partner member. A noticeably drop in budget allocation to agriculture does not favour any aspect to develop agriculture in the country 

Writer is the director at the Data Capital International Agricultural Economist