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AICC attended the Youth in Agriculture and Employment conference in Kigali Rwanda. Themed “Youth Employment in Agriculture as a solid Solution to ending Hunger and poverty in Africa: Engaging through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Entrepreneurship”.  The event was jointly organized by FAO and African Union and the Government of Rwanda.The main outcome of the conference was a framework document and road map to boost youth engagement and interest in agriculture as a solid foundation towards eradicating poverty through decent youth employment as an in agriculture as a solid foundation towards eradicating poverty through decent youth employment as an integral part of the agenda of wealth creation and shared prosperity in Africa, consistent with AU agenda 2063 and SDGs.

The conference aimed to foster exchange among stakeholder on knowledge and best practices regarding the interfaces between agriculture, youth employment, entrepreneurship ICT Innovations, leading to prioritizing interventions going forward. Stakeholders discussed the relative importance of youth centered entrepreneurship and innovations in agriculture and agribusiness along the major themes: youth and entrepreneurship, digital solutions to overcome agriculture value chain related constraints and future for agriculture work.

Speaking after attending conference Rashid project officer for legume platform appreciated the platform as a rare for engaging with stakeholders in agriculture on youth employment across Africa. The conference helped participants to appreciate the challenges and opportunities of growing both domestic and regional youth employment in agriculture. The Youth employment in Agriculture was a regional meeting place for players fostering youth employment in agriculture. It brought together over 600 key participants– from AU agencies, governments, banks, financiers, investors, project owners, project developers, commercial farmers and the agro-processing industry. Organized by the African  FAO in partnership with African governments and government agencies, the conference delivered a unique mix of decision makers from across the agri-value chain making it the most effective place to conduct business in the sector applied hoping to learn more and share solutions that offer new opportunities for youth entrepreneurship along the agricultural value chains. The theme also had a special focus on policy, financial and leading examples of incentives to foster youth-led or youth-focused agribusiness services which were consistent with AICC interventions under the MAP, LDT, SDGs and particularly the Young Innovative Farmers (YIF).

The conference resolved to:

• Involve youth in process making process as policy makers not end users
• Change the face of agriculture by making agriculture attractive to the youth
• Make financing models flexible for the youth to support their ideas
• Integrate ICTs in agriculture
• Embrace the value chains approach and food systems approach to broaden the definition of agriculture for the youth
• Increase youth access to factors of production
• Nurture youth ideas through agribusiness
• Promotedecent employment among the youth

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