Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa
While much has been said in recent years about the importance of engaging rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa’s development, the factual data about how African youth currently engage in rural economies remain sparse. We use recent nationally representative household survey data from six countries to d...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Taylor and Francis
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142695 |
| _version_ | 1855523857869307904 |
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| author | Abay, Kibrom A. Asnake, Woinishet Ayalew, Hailemariam Chamberlin, Jordan Sumberg, James |
| author_browse | Abay, Kibrom A. Asnake, Woinishet Ayalew, Hailemariam Chamberlin, Jordan Sumberg, James |
| author_facet | Abay, Kibrom A. Asnake, Woinishet Ayalew, Hailemariam Chamberlin, Jordan Sumberg, James |
| author_sort | Abay, Kibrom A. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | While much has been said in recent years about the importance of engaging rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa’s development, the factual data about how African youth currently engage in rural economies remain sparse. We use recent nationally representative household survey data from six countries to describe the patterns of such engagement. We find that young people participate in agriculture at similar rates to older people. However, participation in non-farm wage employment and business activity changes with age, peaking in the 30s. The likelihood of reporting no activity is greatest for people in their 20s. In more remote places, people leave school earlier and are less likely to engage in the non-farm sector, compared with people in more accessible places. We also find evidence that the non-farm economy is more diversified in relatively more accessible places, offering a larger set of options for economic engagement. We show that ‘landscapes of opportunity’ , defined by economic remoteness and agricultural potential, are an important way of assessing the choices available to young rural people. A key conclusion is that efforts to develop a ‘youth lens’ for rural development should not abandon the mainstays of rural investment strategies such as infrastructure, education, and agricultural R&D. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace142695 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| publisherStr | Taylor and Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1426952025-12-08T10:29:22Z Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa Abay, Kibrom A. Asnake, Woinishet Ayalew, Hailemariam Chamberlin, Jordan Sumberg, James rural youth youth employment rural economics employment youth off-farm employment rural areas While much has been said in recent years about the importance of engaging rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa’s development, the factual data about how African youth currently engage in rural economies remain sparse. We use recent nationally representative household survey data from six countries to describe the patterns of such engagement. We find that young people participate in agriculture at similar rates to older people. However, participation in non-farm wage employment and business activity changes with age, peaking in the 30s. The likelihood of reporting no activity is greatest for people in their 20s. In more remote places, people leave school earlier and are less likely to engage in the non-farm sector, compared with people in more accessible places. We also find evidence that the non-farm economy is more diversified in relatively more accessible places, offering a larger set of options for economic engagement. We show that ‘landscapes of opportunity’ , defined by economic remoteness and agricultural potential, are an important way of assessing the choices available to young rural people. A key conclusion is that efforts to develop a ‘youth lens’ for rural development should not abandon the mainstays of rural investment strategies such as infrastructure, education, and agricultural R&D. 2021-04-01 2024-05-22T12:10:53Z 2024-05-22T12:10:53Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142695 en Open Access Taylor and Francis Abay, Kibrom A.; Asnake, Woinishet; Ayalew, Hailemariam; Chamberlin, Jordan; and Sumberg, James. 2021. Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Development Studies 57(4): 594-613. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2020.1808195 |
| spellingShingle | rural youth youth employment rural economics employment youth off-farm employment rural areas Abay, Kibrom A. Asnake, Woinishet Ayalew, Hailemariam Chamberlin, Jordan Sumberg, James Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title | Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | Landscapes of opportunity: Patterns of young people’s engagement with the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | landscapes of opportunity patterns of young people s engagement with the rural economy in sub saharan africa |
| topic | rural youth youth employment rural economics employment youth off-farm employment rural areas |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142695 |
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