Improving Economic Opportunities For Youth Through Agriculture

By Friday Simbaya, Kilombero

The agriculture sector in Tanzania struggles to attract younger generations. For many youth (ages 18-35), farming fails to offer profitable economic opportunities and attractive environments in which to live and work, says Thomas Carr Chief of Party, NAFAKA.

He said that cultural traditions that grant land control primarily to the patriarch further limit access by younger family members, which has also contributed to the migration of younger generations to urban centers where they perceive the quality of life and earning potential to be better.

The NAFAKA Chief of Party, Carr said recently that Tanzanian Staples Value Chain (NAFAKA) is aimed improving the impact this generational shift could have on the future of Tanzanian agriculture, the USAID Feed the Future Initiative has been working with rural youth groups to create new economic opportunities in the agriculture sector.

He said providing services to farmers, such as weeding and spraying, not only further enhances the productivity of the entire agriculture sector but also creates new jobs well suited for younger generations.

By facilitating training to youth groups on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) like land preparation, proper planting and spacing, crop management, and post-harvest handling, the project has initiated renewed interest in agriculture and provided youth with important techniques that benefit the entire sector.

At least seventeen (17) youth groups have already been formed with a total of 220 members. Presently, forty-three of those members (51% female) have begun offering services to farmer customers.

One such group that has benefited from training is Huduma Youth Group in Mlimba (Kilombero District).

The group’s 10 members (50% female) have already generated a total of $1,280 working as agricultural service providers within their community.

Carr said that members are hired to perform spraying services, transplanting, direct seeding, and weeding activities.

The group invested 70% of its profit into the purchase of one acre of shared land, four spraying pumps, and three dribblers and collectively decided to divide the remaining 30% among themselves for individual use.

Currently, the group has 21 regular clients and has delivered services on 50 total acres of land. The group has also established a group development fund worth $163 to manage personal emergencies or natural disasters.

Ester Oscar Kiyule, chairperson of Huduma Youth Group, explained, “Working as a group has helped many of our members believe that they can be someone reliable to many. I am very excited that I am role model for other youth in our community.”

Through this initiative, a wider range of economic opportunities in the agriculture sector are being developed, creating jobs for youth in rural areas, establishing linkages that strengthen agricultural value chains across, and sustaining the future of the agriculture sector in Tanzania.

The NAFAKA Staples Value Chain Activity is a six-year Task Order issued by USAID under the Tanzania Feed the Future (FtF) Initiative and administered by ACDI/VOCA.

NAFAKA integrates agricultural, gender, environmental, and nutritional development efforts to improve smallholder farmer productivity and profitability within the rice and maize value chains in Morogoro (Kilombero and Mvomero districts), Dodoma (Kongwa district), Manyara (Kiteto district), Mbeya (Mbozi, Mbeya Rural, Mbarali, and Rungwe districts), and Iringa (Iringa Rural and Kilolo districts) on the mainland, as well as Pemba and Unguja in Zanzibar.

NAFAKA’s goal is to sustainably reduce poverty and food insecurity by increasing incomes for smallholder farmers, including men, women, and

The program is part of Feed the Future, the US government’s global hunger and food security initiative to break the cycle of hunger and poverty in the developing world.

Feed the Future is focusing on the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT), a region the Tanzanian government has identified as the most conducive for agricultural growth.

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