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Author: Peter Asare-Nuamah, Lecturer, University of Environment and Sustainable Development
Original article: https://theconversation.com/ghana-needs-more-young-farmers-but-does-climate-change-put-them-off-study-shows-surprising-results-249500
Ghana has a high youth unemployment rate of up to 13.9%. For those young Ghanaians who do have jobs, more than 50% are underemployed – working in jobs that are low paid or which don’t allow them to use all their skills or education.
The government of Ghana sees agriculture as a sector where young people have an opportunity to be working. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s youth in agriculture policy, and government programmes like planting for food and jobs and rearing livestock for food and jobs are trying to attract young people to agriculture.
Ghanaian farmers are 55 years old on average, and there are worries about who is going to do the job in future.
I research young people’s participation in agriculture and how farmer-led innovations can strengthen farming and food systems in the face of climate change.
My earlier research into what influences young people to farm (or not) shows that they still see farming as a job for impoverished people that requires limited skills and mainly involves drudgery. In other words, unattractive as a way to make a living.
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I also wanted to know whether extreme weather events caused by climate change – like heatwaves, floods and drought, which can destroy crops – influence young people’s decisions about whether to farm. Specifically, I wanted to find out more about young people’s perceptions, experiences and emotions. Were they hopeful about farming in a world that is heating up, or were they worried? Had they already experienced droughts, floods or other climate-related disasters which influenced their ideas about farming?
I was part of a research team who asked 511 young Ghanaians about this and was surprised by the answer: most were interested in farming.
We found that experiencing climate extremes such as floods, droughts, rainfall variability and high temperature did not substantially discourage youth from participating in agriculture and agribusiness.
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Young people are in fact attracted to farming by new innovations in agriculture that help farms withstand climate change disasters.
In contrast to other studies, our study shows that the majority of youth are willing to participate in agriculture and agribusiness, with 76.7% of the study participants in favour of farming.
Our research suggests that governments need to re-frame farming as a financially viable and technologically forward-thinking career for young people. Establishing training centres where young people can learn about using new innovations to farm in times of climate change could help attract more young Ghanaians to the profession.
Factors that influence young people to farm, or not
First, we looked at perceptions. We asked young people if they perceived that climate change affected agriculture, for example by reducing yields and increasing pests. The results from the study indicate that youth with negative climate perceptions are less likely to participate in agriculture and agribusiness. This is because climate-induced floods or droughts decimate crops, and there is less to sell. They also mean that there is less to eat, which increases rural poverty and food insecurity.
However, the findings were not all negative.
Our research also found that new farming technologies created positive climate perceptions among the young people we interviewed. They believed that these new innovations could help their future farms to adapt to climate change.
Then we looked at the experiences young people have had with climate change. We found that experiencing floods, droughts, rainfall variability and high temperature do not substantially discourage youth from participating in agriculture and agribusiness, even though these climate events have negative effects.
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We then looked at climate-related emotions, for example whether they were worried or scared about climate issues or motivated and hopeful.
Previous research has revealed that children and youth have positive and negative climate emotions based on how they have already experienced climate change.
Not all youth have negative climate emotions. Youth with positive climate emotions are more likely to participate in agriculture and agribusiness.
We found a number of other factors also influence youth when they decide whether to take up farming or not. Most young people in favour of farming (69.3%) were urban residents. Just over 64% of the young people had access to the land needed for agribusiness but only 35.2% had ever taken part in any agribusiness training.
Young men, those who have participated in agriculture and agribusiness training, those who are members of farmer-based organisations and have families and friends already engaged in agriculture are more likely to make a positive decision to participate in agriculture and agribusiness.
What this means for policymakers
It is likely that those willing to participate in agriculture were attracted to the concept of agribusiness – a career that involves financial and business management, marketing, networking, and strategic communication.
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New technologies could draw young people to the profession. Precision agriculture such as hydroponics and aquaponics are examples of technologically advanced farming methods.
This means that the government and its development partners must speed up innovations and technologies for climate-smart agriculture and agribusiness. This will help ease the worries that young people have about entering farming.
We also recommend that the government and organisations involved in agriculture start actively framing farming as agribusiness – integrating business management principles into agricultural activities. This could encourage young people to participate in agriculture and agribusiness.
The government should identify successful youth “agripreneurs” as change agents. They can alter perceptions about agriculture and agribusiness by sharing their experiences of being business people in the sector. This will motivate other youths.
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Young people need knowledge about how to set up a successful agribusiness in times of climate change. Field-based and experiential training programmes in successful agribusinesses will inspire Ghanaian youth.
To support young people, training centres should be set up close to where agriculture and agribusiness are practised. These centres must be resourced adequately to enhance the acquisition of financial, technological, communication, networking and marketing skills among the youth.
Young women must be prioritised and benefit equally from skills training and support or resources. The government and its development partners also need to improve access to credit for young farmers.