Rural agriculture and youth empowerment: perspectives of the youth and community members in Centane, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

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.