Rural agriculture and youth empowerment: perspectives of the youth and community members in Centane, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
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Date
2014
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University of Fort Hare
Abstract
The study explores youth perspectives regarding their participation in agriculture and
its future in Centane, a rural community in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
The study examines, firstly, the extent to which the assumption that youth lack
interest in agriculture is evident in the study community. Secondly, it explores the
extent to which youth involvement or the lack thereof defines the future of agriculture
in the study community. The third research concern is the extent to which the
relevant state-led agricultural policies support youth involvement in rural agriculture.
This is against the background that unemployment is rife in Africa, with extensive
social and economic consequences, yet appears not to have been vigorously tackled
by the government. There is also a scholarly view that rural youths “lack interest” in
agriculture. The study used both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods,
specifically a mini survey, focus groups, in-depth and key informant interviews, and
observation.
The key findings of the study showed that there was widespread lack of youth
involvement in agriculture in the study community. However, contrary to what the
literature on this theme often supposes, this was more as a result of the absence of
specific ‘incentives’ and resources, than as a result of a “lack of interest” in
agriculture. The study also found that despite the high level of acknowledgment in
the study community that the youth were “turning away” from agriculture, and the
researcher’s observation that arable fields in and around the community lay
uncultivated, the overall youth perception of rural agriculture could not be described
as negative. Another important finding was that key informants in the relevant
government departments acknowledged that government was not providing sufficient
support to spur youth involvement in agriculture.
The study concludes from these findings that rural agriculture is seriously imperiled,
but not irredeemably so.
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Keywords
Rural agriculture, youth empowerment, rural youth, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Centane Community