responsible for heavy work in a range of activities, such
as domestic work, including household chores and
childcare, and productive activities. As a result of this dual
responsibility, they work much longer hours than men,
limiting their time, mobility, and access to opportunities
offered by programs to develop their skills.
2.3 Youth in Agricultural
Value Chains
Although there is no universally accepted definition
of youth, “it generally refers to the transitional period
from childhood to adulthood where new roles and
responsibilities are taken up” (Fussell, 2006; Vargas-Lundius
and Suttie, 2014). The word “youth” has been described in
many different ways, sometimes as a particular age group,
as a stage of life, or as an attitude. As 2SCALE is active in
member states of the African Union, it adopts the African
Union’s African Youth Charter definition: “every person
between the ages of 15 and 35 years” (FAO, 2002).
To some extent, youth face similar challenges as women,
but more opportunities are available to young men. First,
young people tend to have limited economic independence.
Though agriculture is often assumed to be a joint family
venture, control over productive processes and assets
is almost impossible for young household members.
Subordination to elders in large extended family households
is recurrent with young members relying on their parents
to fulfill basic food, shelter, and clothing needs. Most youth
are landless and have no immediate access or control over
important productive resources – prompting their search
for alternative livelihoods (Bezu and Holden, 2014; Vargas-
Lundius and Suttie, 2014). Landlessness has an impact on
access to finance, as land is often used as collateral, thus
preventing young people from investing in an economic
activity; it also has an impact on investments in the land, for
instance, to improve its soil fertility.
Young farmers gain
skills in vegetable
production and
farm management
at a learning
center – Vegetable
Partnership, Nigeria.
5
Land owners remain primary decision-makers. Young
people working the land are rarely in a position to make
decisions over resources, earnings, and expenditures. The
dependency is more acute for young women and girls.
Young men can better grow out of this dependency through
education ( formal, vocational, or hands-on), inheritance
of land, and by becoming heads of families, while women
are more constrained by social norms and gender relations
(Bennell, 2007; 2010). For example, early marriage and
pregnancies affect young wo