Inclusive Sustainable Agriculture Mechanization Service Provision: Constraints and Opportunities for Women and Youth

1. Inclusive Sustainable Agriculture
Mechanization services provision:
constraints and opportunities for
women and youths
Regional workshop to share experiences of
sustainable agricultural mechanization hire service
provision practices in Sub-Saharan African countries
Meaza Melkamu (ACT) and Flavia Grassi (FAO)
December 9-12, 2019
Uganda, Kampala

2. Content
• Context
• Challenges of women & youth in Agriculture in Africa
• Potential of sustainable mechanization & Opportunities for
youth & women
• Actions for inclusive mechanization at different level
• Constraints of service provision; youth & women perspective
• Possible solutions for inclusive service provision
• Conclusion

3. Context: Africa's Youth demography
• Youth bulge
• Africa’s potential
workforce will
increase by 21
million people per
year during
2020s, rising to 30
million in 2050s
• Africa youngest
continent, 60%
under 35 years
old
• Rural young
women transiting
to adulthood with
fewer resources
(education, land,
employment
opportunities)
• Landownership
and current
employment
• More youth are
not in
employment,
education and
training
The need to transform African agriculture and the rural economy
IFPRI, 2019 report on Africa’s rural youth in global context

4. Context for the Youth • Mismatch between education and
job.
• Strong correlation between youth
unemployment and conflict (peace
with employment)
• Drudgery and low productivity in
Agriculture is not attracting the
youth to farming leading to youth
migration
• Did the youth migrate when Europe
mechanize?
• Investing in rural youth has the
potential to accelerate growth as
they represent a significant share of
the productive workforce
• Agribusiness across the entire value
chain can bring job opportunity for
the 72% youth who have access to
Digital tools (CTA, 2019).

5. Context: Features of farming in Africa & Gender
Women account for 60-80% of food
production, thus agricultural output
could potentially be increased by 15-40%
just by providing women with assets
equal to those of men (UN Women et al.
2015)
Women farmers’ productivity remains
low relative to their potential. They lack
access to credit, extension, inputs,
technology and markets, and their
domestic roles limit their available time.
Cost of gender inequality in SSA
estimated losses at an average of US$95
billion per year (UN Women et al. 2015)
Investing in rural women has the
potential to accelerate growth as they
represent a significant share of the
workforce, manage resources carefully,
and invest in children.

6. Gender beyond women and youth
• Rural population is not homogeneous;
• Inequalities between men and women linked
to prevailing social norms and regarding:
 roles, tasks and capacities;
 participation and decision-making
within households and rural institutions;
 access to services, including mechanization
• Besides gender differences, there can be additional levels
of discrimination (by age, ethic group, etc.)

7. Challenges of youth & women in farming
• Declining rural labour force,
aging farmers work force,
and increasing feminization
of agriculture
• Culturally determined
expectation about what it
means to be a man and a
woman
• Restricted access to
productive resource (land,
assets)
• Limited participation and
decision making
• Lack of access to basic
service and labour market
• Less access to financial
services and products
• Lack of access to mobile
phones
• Low literacy levels
• Norms that limits women’s
mobility and ownership of
assets
Shifting social norms is influential as monetary incentives
or policy prescriptions in changing behaviour at scale

8. Potential of sustainable mechanization
Key social, economic and
environmental impacts
Labour saving and
efficiency of farm
operations
Increased yields and
income
Climate change
mitigation
Reduction of food loss
and waste
New employment
opportunities
Improved quality of
produce and products

9. Opportunities for youth & women across the
Agricultural value chain
Planting service provision by CA farmer

10. What needs to be done: Inclusive interventions at
different levels

11. Service providers will increasingly drive the inclusive growth agenda

12. Key factors to promote mechanization access
Service provision in
agricultural
mechanization
• Type and size of land
• Type of production
(crops/forestry/livestock
• Diversified labour
force with different
rights
Environmental
EconomicSocial • Financial means of
producers
• Infrastructure
• Market

13. Ensuring and inclusive service provision
• Offer and demand need to meet
• Two levels of constraint for service providers:
 Constraints from the business point of view (offer)
 Constraints in the capacity to provide a good service
to clients (demand)
Service provision in agricultural
mechanization
• Diversified labour
force with different
rights

14. 1
4
Constraints from the business point of view (offer)
Weak institutional
environment
Policies and strategies
supporting mechanization
Rural finance
Research
Inadequate availability of
equipment/maintenance
services at national/
regional level
Capacity to source
mechanization options
adapted to different needs
Weak operational
capacities
(management/staff)
Capacity to deliver gender-
sensitive service

15. 1
5
Constraints in the capacity to respond to clients’ needs (demand)
Participation
Participation to
rural
organizations
that can provide
an access to
services
Cultural
acceptability
What is
appropriate?
Limited mobility;
manual tasks not
supported by
mechanization
Information
and training
Women/youth are
often less informed
and have fewer
opportunities for
training in
mechanization
Suitability of
tools
Weight, size of
tools and
equippement
Financial
access
Women’s capacity
to control income
& financial
products targeting
the needs of
women and youth

16. 1
6
Service providers: how to improve operational capacities
 Revision of membership and governance rules to ensure the
inclusion of women and youth
 Building of staff capacities in:
 gender and team work
 management, finance and ICT
 technical competencies linked to mechanization
 Integration of complementary services within the
organization or reliance on key partners (rural finance, ICT)

17. 1
7
Service providers: how to be client-oriented
 Consultation with local communities and households on their
mechanization needs by: gender, age, type of tasks, time
availability, mobility
 Revision of operation modalities:
 Information adapted to all levels and utilization of different means
of information dissemination
 Diversified training methodologies: field demonstrations, peer-to-
peer learning; farmer field schools, mentorship, debates
 Utilization of methodologies and approaches which promote intra-
household dialogue and foster the participation and decision-
making of of women and youth

18. 1
8
Model of inclusive mechanization service provision
 Enables women and men to participate equally as service providers and as beneficiaries;
 Serves all needs and professions along the value chain – from production to processing
and distribution;
 Is financially sound and relies on the availability of diverse rural finance/credit options
accessible to both women and men;
 Offers entire range of tools/equipment: from simple to most sophisticated;
 Can count on network of repair and maintenance services for the entire spectrum of
mechanization offer;
 Foresees information and training for all levels and needs;
 Identifies means to build trust amongst all actors involved in the service delivery chain
(dealers, operators, managers, repair providers and farmers).

19. Conclusion
• Gender issues should be seen from different angle such as class, race,
ethnicity, age and gender as it is intersectional
• Despite forming a large share of the agricultural workforce, women and
youth represent an under-served customer segment as many agribusiness
product and service providers, including financial institutions and
technology providers, still primarily market and sell to men
• Investing in women and youth along the entire value chain can significantly
increase the broader economic benefits for all
• The path to inclusive growth in agriculture must include building
smallholder professionalism, women and youth entrepreneurship
• Armed with a clear business case for investing in women & youth along the
entire value chain, the private sector/service provider will increasingly
drive the inclusive growth agenda

20. Thank you