Jens A. Andersson Sustainable Intensification programme (SIP)

based on a background paper with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex, UK: Ripoll, S., J.A. Andersson, L. Badstue, M. Büttner, J. Chamberlin, O. Erenstein and J. Sumberg (2017)

Rural transformation, cereals and youth in Africa: a research agenda (submitted for publication)

MAIZE AFS 2017 Workplan Development MeetingTribe Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya, 23-25 January 2017

CRP MAIZE & Youth

CRP MAIZE and the youth research agenda

1. Agric. research to respond to policy interest in youth - background section on youth in CRP MAIZE proposal

2. Existing framings, narratives and approaches to youth are problematic

3. Developing a youth-focused research agenda sociologically informed, rural transformations perspective (December 2016 workshop, MX)

4. Direction and suitable indicators of progress - discussion

UN (2012) Population projections by continent

Gerland et al. 2014. World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science 346: 234–237.

UN (2012) Population projections by continent

Gerland et al. 2014. World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science 346: 234–237.

the youth bulge: opportunity or problem?

UN (2012) Population projections by continent

Gerland et al. 2014. World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science 346: 234–237.

the youth bulge: opportunity or problem?

Agriculture as solution?- provider of jobs in near term- counteracting the ageing farming population- contribution to food security and sustainability

UN (2012) Population projections by continent

Gerland et al. 2014. World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science 346: 234–237.

the youth bulge: opportunity or problem?

Agriculture as solution?- provider of jobs in near term- counteracting the ageing farming population- contribution to food security and sustainability

a modernised, less laborious, and more youth-attracting agriculture

entrepreneurship

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

1. Framing of issues as if they are youth-specific whereas they are structural i.e. access to land / credit. It is critical to distinguish issues affecting all / some / youth only

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

1. Framing of issues as if they are youth-specific whereas they are structural i.e. access to land / credit. It is critical to distinguish issues affecting all / some / youth only

2. Assumption: all youth can engage with value chains, independent of the rural environment and their individual circumstances

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

1. Framing of issues as if they are youth-specific whereas they are structural i.e. access to land / credit. It is critical to distinguish issues affecting all / some / youth only

2. Assumption: all youth can engage with value chains, independent of the rural environment and their individual circumstances

3. Adoption of a broad conception of entrepreneurshipequating any income generation with being entrepreneurial

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

1. Framing of issues as if they are youth-specific whereas they are structural i.e. access to land / credit. It is critical to distinguish issues affecting all / some / youth only

2. Assumption: all youth can engage with value chains, independent of the rural environment and their individual circumstances

3. Adoption of a broad conception of entrepreneurshipequating any income generation with being entrepreneurial

4. Conflating situations of youth discrimination with circumstances having fewer assets and resource access, less status etc.

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

1. Framing of issues as if they are youth-specific whereas they are structural i.e. access to land / credit. It is critical to distinguish issues affecting all / some / youth only

2. Assumption: all youth can engage with value chains, independent of the rural environment and their individual circumstances

3. Adoption of a broad conception of entrepreneurshipequating any income generation with being entrepreneurial

4. Conflating situations of youth discrimination with circumstances having fewer assets and resource access, less status etc.

5. Essentialist thinking: claiming all young people share particular characteristicssuch as being more innovative than older people, youth as an age category

2. Problematic framings, narratives and approaches to youth

1. Framing of issues as if they are youth-specific whereas they are structural i.e. access to land / credit. It is critical to distinguish issues affecting all / some / youth only

2. Assumption: all youth can engage with value chains, independent of the rural environment and their individual circumstances

3. Adoption of a broad conception of entrepreneurshipequating any income generation with being entrepreneurial

4. Conflating situations of youth discrimination with circumstances having fewer assets and resource access, less status etc.

5. Essentialist thinking: claiming all young people share particular characteristicssuch as being more innovative than older people, youth as an age category

6. Viewing young people as isolated economic agentsyet, they are embedded in social (family) networks

3. Developing a youth-focused research agenda

Instead of defining any a-priori youth-targeted intervention strategies, we first need to outline a research agenda on youth, that:

1. Delineates different contexts for youth-oriented agri-food systems research

2. Identifies young people’s engagements with maize agri-food systems

3. Identifies young people’s pathways into maize agri-food systems

Agricultural development implications of access to markets and natural resource quality

(adapted from Wiggins and Proctor, 2001)

3. Delineating different contexts for youth-oriented agri-food systems research

2. Identifying young people’s engagements with maize agri-food systems

Distinguish different kinds of maize-related opportunities open to young people(beyond farm activities)

• As producers in their own right• As (un)paid labourers on farms, or in other (in)formal maize-related businesses• As maize-related business operators (some may be entrepreneurs)

• …

Note: These are not mutually exclusive categories, and individuals may shift between them.

2. Identifying young people’s engagements with maize agri-food systems

Distinguish different kinds of maize-related opportunities open to young people(beyond farm activities)

• As producers in their own right• As (un)paid labourers on farms, or in other (in)formal maize-related businesses• As maize-related business operators (some may be entrepreneurs)

• …

Note: These are not mutually exclusive categories, and individuals may shift between them.

social & cultural structures

legal & market structures

Differentiated Outcomes

Individual situations, assets, characteristics

Imagined futures & aspirations

Individual & collective agency

Circumscribing young people’s economic room to manoeuvre as producers, labourers, etc.

local context i.e. accessibility of markets,

rural transformation dynamics, quality of NR

macro context i.e. climate change,

changing global food systemnational policies

3. Identifying young people’s pathways into maize agri-food systems

3. Developing a youth-focused research agenda

1. Delineating different contexts for youth-oriented agri-food systems research

2. Identifying young people’s engagements with maize agri-food systems

3. Identifying young people’s pathways into maize agri-food systems

Strategic research questions, in a selection of maize areas:

1. What role(s) does maize play in the economic activities of young people?

2. What are the barriers that young people face to establish themselves as commercially-oriented maize producers / labourers/...?

• How is the productivity enhancement through sustainable intensification envisaged by CRP expected to change these barriers?

3. What explains the ability of some young people to navigate the barriers to their establishment as commercially-oriented maize producers/ labourers /...?

For each question:, in what ways is the story different for youth compared to other social categories?

1. spatial characterization

II. foresight(spatial)

III. qualitative studies

IV. survey analyses

SSA-AfricaNigeria, Tanzania, Zambia ?

S-AsiaIndo-Gangetic plains ?

research sites

main research methods

youth trajectories in maize-related economic activities

LSMS / census / …& testing qualitative analyses

Youth-focused Research Programme

V. partner data analyses

• demographic trends (incl. migration)

• farm structure trends• commercialisation of

farming• yield gap, socio-

economic analysis

Characterisation along gradients of:•resource quality•market access / agric. intensification

in selected maize/wheat geographies:• youth histories in

maize/wheat-related economic activities(navigation)

• understanding constraints faced by new entrants’

OAF/ CRS / ....

1. spatial characterization

II. foresight(spatial)

Action Learning:• Analysing data

with youth lens• Qualitative analysis

of youth experiences

Action learning in FP3/4 projects

CSISA, FACASI, DTMASS, …

Action research

Research proposal

in one/limited number of sites

indicators of progress indicators of progress

Youth-focused Research Programme