Youth in Agribusiness: Coping with COVID-19 in the context of a Changing Climate

The coronavirus pandemic is a global emergency affecting all countries, requiring immediate and sustained international action. While mitigating the terrible human and economic toll worldwide is of priority, it is important to take into account the underlying problems this emergency exposes, especially for those most at risk for severe health-related consequences – older people, poor households, the undernourished, and those who live in remote rural areas without access to basic services or support. These problems heighten the risks of the current pandemic and must not be neglected. Disruptions in agricultural value chains and markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are severely affecting rural livelihoods, especially of the self-employed and wage workers. Due to lockdowns and movement restrictions smallholder farmers and agribusinesses especially youth-run enterprises are unable to sell their produce or access inputs, while seasonal and migrant workers are no longer generating income and need to return to their areas of origin, with ripple effects on their households. At the same time, countries in Africa are currently dealing with climate shocks such as raging floods, conflict, acute food insecurity and hunger threat from the invasion of desert locusts.

Young rural people are among the most vulnerable groups, already facing higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, and overrepresented in the informal economy (40 percent more likely than adults to be in casual work arrangements). Most earn their income on a daily or weekly basis and have little or no access to health insurance or social security. Rural youth are at high risk to disproportionately suffer both from the pandemic and its aftermath. A survey conducted with young Kenya agripreneurs by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO) shows how this pandemic is already affecting young people and their businesses. In addition, climate related catastrophes such as floods and the desert locusts have compounded the problems facing the most vulnerable populations especially the rural youth. We need to make sure rural youth are included in the response to these crises. It is not all doom and gloom as it is emerging that several young people are implementing innovative ideas to address the current food availability crisis using various digital platforms.

It is against this background that the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), IFDC-2SCALE, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO), AgriProFocus, the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN), the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI) and Practical Action are hosting an online discussion on the Climate and Agriculture Network for Africa ( CANA ) platform to discuss the following questions:

1. As a young person engaged in agribusiness, how is COVID-19 and other climate related shocks such as the raging floods and invasion of desert locusts affecting your personal and professional life and livelihood?
2. How are you organizing your work and resources to cope with the crisis from an economic and health perspective?
3. How have your government and other organizations supported you to cope with these challenges?
4. What lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can be applied in the context of climate change? What innovative ideas have you applied or observed?
5. What kind of support would you need to face this pandemic and other climate related challenges?

The online discussion will run for two weeks from 20th May 2020 to 5th June 2020 culminating in a one day online virtual interaction on 18th June 2020.
The outcomes of the discussions will inform the future advocacy, policy, programming and fundraising work of the organizations behind this initiative, to enhance the protection of young workers and entrepreneurs in the agri-food system from the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as climate shocks.

COVID-19 has disrupted livelihoods and the agricultural system at large. Distribution of food has been a major challenge due to restrictions. However we have seen new innovative ways that have been designed to support the supply chains and mostly b young people. I would be interested to see what young entrepreneurs have come up with to support their businesses and others during this trying times as this also presents opportunities for innovation by young people.

Comment nous pouvons nous connecter au webina en ligne

Hallo Adetonah - for now, we are discussing online. We shall have the webinar on 10th June 2020. We shall share more information in time.

This discussion is so good and appreciated.
As youth of Somalia this COVID–19 was affected and it leads the youth to be unemployed and stopped the ongoing between community, and as well there is lack of information sharing, people unaware an immobilize the catastrophic of the Pandemic, people visit the infected and sick people, as well following people the funeral, all these encouraging the spread of the disease.
In addition, there is floods that happened of the country specially in irrigated areas, and people displaced there homes and this will encourage the development of pandemic.

Thanks
Nur Mohamed Abdi
Founder and Manager Somali Youth Agro-Marine Development Association.
Country Coordinator African Youth livestock Fishery and Aquaculture Incubation network.

The subject matter is timely indeed.

The climate change in sub-saharan africa kenya in particular is real and paints a grim picture of the future we are heading into. I recall the year 2019 after preparing 2 acres piece of land for cultivation in early February waiting for the long rains as always has been was a shocker of my farming history, i had planned to grow groundnuts since the market demand is somehow better compared to the usual maize and beans cultivation. by mid march, the rains began as usual and there i was with 90 kg sack of seed ground nuts, after planting it only rained twice the nuts had germinated but a dry spell took over immediately and for the following one month it was total dryness, the germinated nuts succumbed to excess heat and withered out, i couldn't believe it, with no source of water to irrigate, i lost that investment due to dependence on rain fed agriculture, come August to November the same year, a period well noted to be of short rains and which we normally don't waste time tilling, this time round came differently, we experienced heavy downpour akin to long rains but with ravaging impact on infrastructure like roads, buildings, bridges and floods all over...but again we did not plant knowing that the rains were not to last that long, few people who managed to plant by faith harvested in bounty clearly that was a change in seasonal rains orchestrated by weather.

My point is, climate change is real and we are experiencing the impact first hand, with the ever growing population, the need to approach agribusiness and agriculture in general should take a paradigm shift, but how?

I work with the community in a PEPFAR funded project where we reach out to OVC and in particular the youths/ adolescence living with HIV, and as part of the programming, household stability and livelihood support and sensitization is emphasized. the youths are empowered through agribusiness training workshops in collaborations with the government departments of agriculture,and based on household vulnerability of households, real time field training and support in establishment of as small as kitchen gardens is well done practically.

Back to the realization of Youths in agribusiness in the COVID-19 era, it is difficult but we've not lost hope, with the lock down and curfew that has been imposed in our areas, majority of youths are idle and depend on casual labour in farms for a days meal, a good proposition who can access say family land lacks even seed capital to grow crops or practice say poultry even if its for the local indigenous chicken, for this segment of youths, as a mentor and a strategist, i have talked to around 20 youths in my neighborhood on how they can use the already available resources and space to do something productive and to this extend I prepared a seedbed for the Kales and spinach that will be due in two weeks time for transplanting, each of them is to get 5 used cement bags that are readily available at no cost in most construction sites. we shall make kitchen gardens for each one to raise at there place and apart from supplementing and cutting costs of vegetables at household level, they are to sell excess to there neighbours and start saving for something bigger.

For the Youths that are in formalized groups and intensified in agribusiness (very few in my hood) most of them are involved in Banana cultivation, onions and tomato production, the changes in climate is affecting their margin as it cuts down sharply on their output and subsequent profits as a result of crop pests and diseases, most of this pests and diseases are resistant to available agrochemicals, most of this chemicals come at exorbitant costs, for the first quarter of the year ending march 2020, most youths lost their tomato crops to diseases. those who placed seed capital from loans undergo stress as a result, for the banana farmers most of them are now drying to process flour to be used at homes as transport movements to the markets is expensive and customer clientele has shrinked ever since COVID-19 came nto our lives.

Project Officer - CIPK-USAID-MWENDO Project
CIPK | Taita Taveta Office | Kenya Industrial Estate Road - Mjini,
P.O. Box 93 – 80302, Taveta.
Tel: Direct Line: +254 (0) 706 966 666
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COVID19 have really convinced that it is the mandate of few Youth in agribusiness to continue creating the excitement and a sense of hope and opportunity among the youth and agro-entrepreneurs engaged in both crops and animals resources sector. The youths need to feel like they can be able to excel in business opportunities within the agriculture value chain. Youth should be able to exchange solutions all over the continent based on what they learn from network events and create sustainable businesses all over the globe. That's why I think that COVID effect is rather an opportunity for Youth in creating or building on upon our farming and training capacity to move on.

The Social Media play a pivotal part in our businesses in these times and it is highly advisable for Youth and small agro-businesses to tap into it and showcase to the world that we able and capable in working to mitigate resilience in sustainable agribusiness in achieving the zero hunger and poverty
In our Rural and urban community.



Paul Atsu.

Youth agribusiness development programs lead and Communicatiand .
( AYL-FAIN )under ( AU-IBAR )and F-BRIDGE International . Www.Fbridgeinternational.org .

I have seen some intresting innovations and some were already with us but now seem more pronouced now that the need is really there. An example is a youth in the surburb where i stay, told me his story of how he has since lost the job he used to do in the town, but had to find a way to survive. He has since acquired a old bicycle and loads it with fruits and vegetables. He uses a loud speaker to call out to whoever needs the items he has as he rides through the nieghbour hood. Looking at just one of these kinds of youth I believe they could be helped in standardising their services, improving hygiene, digitising their bussiness by having contacts of their customers so that then can make orders and have continous bussiness. Talking to him, he does face some challenges especially on increasing capacity of the items that he can load at one time, expanding the stock of fruits to cater for more of the customer needs. One question is, how many youth can be helped to start such a small bussiness?
I thought provision of some kind of loan service to help these kind of food suppliers will provide employement for many youth, reduce challenges faced by households in moving to access groceries, reduce costs of delivery. Loans can be paid back through proceeds from the sale of food items, but then also the amount required is small probably to, buy a used or even new bicycle, repair an old bicycle , fix a carrier box and so on. There are multiple benefits especially to youth and communities that coluld particpate in this intervention. I would want to get some ideas on bussiness models that could help youth work with what they have and means of transport that are cheap and affordable in reducing supply restrictions for households, while providing employement for the youth and providing the much needed income.

Youth in Agriculture have more opportunities if guided and supported to do so.
We should also provide then with seed funds and lands to plant.
Covid-19 is an eye opener of the need to plan well.

Covid-19 has disrupted the normalcy in almost all sectors. The youth who heavily rely on day to day activities that give them an income have not been able to move around due to the restrictions of movement. They can't move and as a result not being able to get an income.
But in the midst of all these with the government trying to ensure that the internet connectivity, like here in Kenya is ok in almost all parts of the country, thanks to the introduction of the balloons, we are able to do business online and simple required to deliver once a customer is found. But again with movement restrictions, it is a great challenge

Economically, things have not been that easy. One has to adjust and work on lean budgets since you can't tell the next time you will have a coin in your pockets.
Health wise, masks , masks and masks. We appreciate the fact that with the masks on the risk levels are minimal. So with the little resources available I just ensure that every one around me... friends, family will have at least a mask on. But again with minimal resources, we end up washing and re using. A great challenge in deed

The control on the outbreak of desert locusts in East Africa, that my cause major crisis, not to food for human only, but great danger to livestock, and other animal including birds,
The challenge is how to control the outbreak, as the nations are concern on the combat of Covid -19
Best method is to use desert locust scouts to survey and reports the outbreak locusts for the best control methods

Dear all, great topic! I would be interested to know what financial and non financial tools there are available to help youth to cope (examples of insurances, ICT tools, weather forecast tools, etc). I am really looking forward to attending the webinar. All the best. Silvia

This is a timely discussion and one that should result in actionable results. One of the major challenges is the difficulties in conducting training without the movements and with the social distancing. My colleague and I had been in the process of setting up demonstration farms before this Covid-19 pandemic. The curfew and lock downs immediately made our plans moot. Our expert trainers could not travel and the training cannot be done on Zoom. We have had to have verbal discussions with our farmers over the phone. Not an easy thing.

The lack of local practical agricultural training centres is a challenge. Post Covid-19, I would want to see more youths organizing to form hubs and centres of excellence. Such centres can offer demo farms, information centres on finance, insurance, new hybrids of seeds etc. They can operate on membership fees and commissions. It is a business opportunity that can be easily financed and scaled. This discussion platform can therefore bring together stakeholders with the capacity to host agritech hackathons that result in actionable models and incubation of ideas such as these.

I share most of Paul Atsu's sentiments on this one.

The impending hunger from the pandemic and climate flip tag at my heart, the lives that may be lost from hunger. For me, I find this has made me pull up my socks more on food production, for my family and give a small hand to meeting the food demand that is set to rise, however I can. I feel if the youth affected professionally or any other way by all this, with access to even the smallest farming space could make use of it, that could help extend a huge helping hand to the situation.

Sometimes I feel like rural youth have felt neglected to the extents of losing hope in themselves thus losing motivation and especially in farming. I've been trying to think of ways I could get rural youth from around my area to farm instead of idling waiting for the dust to settle, where there hasn't been much notable damage from the floods. I don't know how yet. I wish I did. It'd change their livelihoods as well.

I wish we'd focus more on addressing the hunger issue that seems bound to hit bigger than the virus and the people displaced by rains who stand to heighten the risk of the virus. Of course while observing the set precautions.

If I'd ask for anything it'd be information. Anything I can do to better my yields or make informed decisions and/or contribute in helping whenever and wherever I can. Then I'd ask for motivation to being the best I can be where I am and/or to whomever needs it.

Otherwise it's a great moment for farmers, especially youth in farming to shine.

In this pendamic the young agreprenure of South Asia like Bangladesh is also highly affected. They could not sell their products like milk, egg, vegetables due to inappropriate supply chain of market. Since they could not sell their products now they are facing huge problem with fund to run their farm. So it is now become mandatory to develop a system that can secure our agreprenure and also can secure our food safety.

My focus shall be on the youth in pastoralists’ communities.

The changing climate and other natural disasters highlighted have resulted in a number of challenges that render these communities vulnerable and unable to sustain their livelihood systems. This has led to scarcity in pasture and water, depletion of other natural resources like forest covers and conflict over the scant shared natural resources among others. This situation has been witnessed in Baringo County ( Paka Hills, Irong, Kabarion and Koitegan) where RECONCILE with funding from the European Union is piloting the Participatory Rangeland Management(PRM) Project. The project aims at improving the productivity of rangelands and management of natural resources by communities and other stakeholders.
The youth play an important role in the use, management and access of these natural resources. For instance in Koitegan Community Forest, the Community Forest Association (CFA) is majorly made up of youth who are keen in protecting the forest and also re-seeding as this is an important water catchment area in the region. Through the project, the youth from the four communities have been engaged in trainings and capacity building actions on sustainable use and management of natural resources. They are therefore able to pass on the information to communities and lead in activities including pasture regeneration, forest reseeding, protection of water springs and so forth.
The progress on this has stalled since the Government directives on lock-down, curfew and social distancing have affected the normal implementation of the project. The project team cannot physically meet and implement the hands on activities.
To cope with the situation, the project has adopted online meetings with field officers and other stakeholders for the dissemination of information and planning of activities in the area. The project field officers act as a liaison between the team and the community and therefore bridging the gap.
Experiences from the youth we work with have been immense with some of the youth being retrenched, losing their source of income and affecting their purchasing power for farm inputs such as fertilizers and certified seeds. The pandemic has also affected livestock farming among the pastoralists with many registering negative effects because of closure of live livestock markets and shut down of hotels. This venture has been further affected by the restrictions in mobility since many of the livestock farmers in Baringo County practice nomadic pastoralism; posting a challenge in availability and accessibility of pasture.

Irene Musundi | Lawyer- Project Administrator-PRM
Resource Conflict Institute | Tel: 0722 256059
www.reconcile-ea.org ,
Twitter @RECONCILE1999

Comment from Linkedln:

Khaduyu Michael - Climate Change, Environmental Governance and Public Policy Expert

We need to think of how to cushion again any disaster, like a long term solution. We make the crop insurance work for real. It becomes discouraging when you get the little capital that you may acquire only to be eaten by locusts or washed by floods.

Hi Alpha,

Yes, COVID-19 has indeed brought about immense challenges to farmers including young farmers and this is a good opportunity for governments, development partners, NGO practitioners to examine to what extent policies and intervention measures, especially within the context of climate change are working and moving forward how can farmers and other players in the value chains be cushioned more effectively. This discussion will be useful in informing policy engagements moving forward.

From Twitter - by @IamVictorMugo

Never let a crisis go to Waste ~ Winston Churchill!?

In the COVID-19 Microbe pandemic, young agripreneurs continue to epitomise this!

@CsaynKenya @AntoMalovi couldn't import a solar drier, so he made one from locally assembled material