This is a South African Fanrpan Case Study on Mainstreaming Youth Development in Agriculture: Current and Emerging Policies

1. CAYC
PRESENTS FANRPAN DRAFT REPORT
On
COUNTRY STUDY ON MAINSTREAMING OF
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURAL
SECTOR
By: Obert Mathivha - CAYC MD
28 February 2012, Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE AS PER TOR
DELIVERABLES
1. Country Agriculture Background (key facts and figures)
2. Youth Profile (key facts and figures)
3. Youth in Agriculture Profile (key facts and figures)
4. Youth Perceptions
5. Highlights of the Review of Agricultural and Youth Policies
6. Profiles of Institutions, mechanisms and tools for the
engagement of youth in policy process (strengths and
weaknesses)
7. Opportunities for youth engagement in agriculture
8. Proposal for disseminating the case study results

3. 1. Country Agriculture Background (key
facts and figures)
1.1. Pre- 1994 - Land Dispossession - Native’s Land Act of 1913 led
to skewed racially based Agricultural Sector
 The Act - 7 % of the land to black people as reserves,
 3.5 million black people were dispossessed of land and resettled on the reserves.
(Thwala, 2003) This eventually led to 80 percent of South Africa‟s population
living on 13 percent of the land. (Mbeki, 2003).
 Result, 82 million hectares of land was owned by 60 000 white farm divisions
(Levin and Weiner, 2003: 39).
 It is estimated that 13 million people lived in the homelands (7% of SA Land) in
poor living conditions. Infant mortality was high and illiteracy was the norm
(Wilson and Ramphele, 2003: 39).
 With the end of apartheid, it was clear that the injustices of the past needed to be
rectified. Provision for such rectification was included in the interim constitution
(Roux, 2004: 518). Redress in terms of land was, therefore, a given; the concern
was how to balance redress with reconciliation and economic sustainability.

4. Country Agriculture Background Continue…..
1.2. Post-1994 Democratic Breakthrough
 Constitution 1996 – need to redress the imbalances & Create
an “inclusive, united & prosperous agric sector”
spearheaded by two twin Departments i.e. land affairs &
agricul affairs
 Subsistence vs. Commercial farming
 Survivalist vs. Competitiveness
 direct correlation between the growth of agricultural sector &
Economy - Contributing 4.9% for 2008/2009 to GDP
 Significant changes since 1994 - policy and regulatory
changes, participation in the international market, HOWEVER
consolidation of skewed participation – See figures below

5. Country Agriculture Background Continue…..
1.3. Agricultural Overview
 Target of 30% of agricultural land transferred to new emerging farmers by 2014 to attend to
injustices of land dispossession and rural underdevelopment, only 4%
 an estimated 3 million household farmers in former homelands and communal areas engage in
subsistence farming (Ministry of Agriculture 2001).
 There are an estimated 14 million households vulnerable to food insecurity in South Africa
(Machethe 2004)
 and an estimated 2.2 million food insecure households in SA (Ministry of Agriculture 2006).
 5% of the white population STILL owning 87% of the land (Moyo 2004). More than 80%
of prime agricultural land is owned by about 55 000 mainly white corporate and
individual farmers
 White South Africans are the predominant owners of the 15% (FAO 2005) of land
classified as arable. UN Rapporteurs on FS Dr. Olivier De Schutter, “In contrast
to the large white commercial farmers, the newly established black farmers are small-scale
farmers, with a poor access to markets, a lack of marketing skills, and a weaker bargaining
position in the food chains,”
 75% of South Africa’s poor living in rural areas (Eastwood et al. 2006).
 Agriculture provides 10, 5% of the country's jobs directly and creates employment for
another 16% of the workforce in other sectors through forward & backward linkages

6. 2. Youth Profile (key facts and figures)
2.1. Youth Defined – 14 – 35 years, not homogeneous i.e. Rural youth; Unemployed
youth; Young women; Out-of-school youth; &Youth with disabilities
2.2. Unemployment & Poverty
 In 2010, South Africa was among 10 countries with the lowest level of
employment in the world, a key factor that contributes to poverty and
inequalities.
 Young people are the most affected by unemployment. In SA, the Quarterly
Labour Force Surveys (QLFS) have consistently shown that young people
constitute over 70% of the unemployed. It is estimated that about 320 000 young
people between 18 and 24 years have lost jobs since December 2008.
The statistical analysis based on the data conducted by Statistic South Africa,
indicates that:
 Youthful Population - Of the about 50 million people living in the country, just
over 16.1 million or 40% were youth (14 to 35 years) - a feature of the population
of many developing countries.
 About 21% of all youth in SA live in KZN, followed by GP (20%) & EC (14%).

7. Youth Profile (key facts and figures) Continue…..
 The overall unemployment rate according to the expanded definition for youth in
SA according to Census 96 was 40.9%.
 Of all the economically active population, over 70% are young people between the ages of 14
to 35.
 The rural and black youth are at the worse end - The problem of lack of jobs is more intense
in non-urban areas i.e. 51.3% compared to 35.7% in urban areas.
 The unemployment rate for economically active youth was higher for females (49.6%) than
for males (33%).
 The unemployment rates for male youth and female youth without any formal education was
33.8% and 52.3% respectively.
 More than 2 in every 5 employed male African youth (45%) worked as artisans and operators,
while about half (49.7%) of employed female African youth held elementary jobs.
 55% of employed male African youth and 70.6% of employed female African youth earned
R1 000 and less per month in 1996.
 Close to 14 million people in South Africa are said to be food insecure (Department of
Agriculture).
 Although the education system has been reformed and all South Africans now have access to
education, approximately 7.5 million people are functionally illiterate.
 Only in 2008 - Integrated Youth Development Approach – Refer to relevant
section below to attend to all these challenging country youth profile

8. 3. Youth in Agriculture Profile
 Despite the Post-1994 Agrarian and Land Reform Policy Shift all there is
just no readily available data on youth beneficiaries from Agric & Land
Reform, only uncoordinated efforts & information here & there
 Seeing that as a gap, in 2007 the CAYC has evaluated the all land and
agricultural affairs programme in order to trace how the youth has been
benefiting from policies in place & further validated it with this FANRPAN
CASE STUDY, finding out the followings:
 That there are only 4700 young people who has benefited from Land &
Agricultural Reform Programmes since 1994, most of whom are no longer
into farming, citing lack of adequate support
 We have got about 800 agricultural cooperatives country with less than
20% being owned and managed by young people
 Internship programme
 Intake of about 600 interns between 2000-2012 financial year
 Target: out-of-school youth (graduates)
 Bursary Scheme
 Bursaries awarded to students and non-employees (survey and
mapping profession) – there is no available figure

9. 4. Youth Perceptions
4.1. Changing realities of agriculture and how they are perceived by young people
 false notion that agric is dirty work & of low status in society i.e. „un-cool‟ and non-lucrative
 no concerted efforts to integrate e.g. policy making decision processes (always top-bottom
approach)
 Post Democratic Reform is not working out i.e. “willing buyer willing seller” principle has
failed, the country is at a risk of polarization because of the emotions involved
 no structured interventions to attract young people as ‘new entrants’ in the land and agrarian
sector i.e. driven‟ by older people who have „emotional‟
 programmes seem to have a limited life span i.e. once-off interventions, with no remedial and
retention strategies and this forces young people to leave the sector if they don‟t make it
 ‘one-size fits all approach’
4.2. Sources of information on agriculture used by young people
 Lack of concerted efforts to share the services and products available in Departments
 Lack of concerted efforts to share best practices and success stories if really any
4.3. Needs & requirements for engaging young people in agriculture and
agricultural processes
 Integrated youth development approach,
 hand-holding support (incubator system)
 Top-bottom approach discourages young people i.e. YARD, Agr Youth Dev Initiative

10. 5. Highlights of the Review of Agricultural and
Youth Policies
The following are some of the Key Policies & Highlights:
5. 1. RDP (1994) aimed at addressing the socio-economic problems brought about by the
consequences of the struggle against Apartheid
5.2 Rural Develpt Framework (1997) which focused on rural infrastructure, public
administration, local government and rural non-farm employment
5.3. Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDP 2001) aimed at localizing
interventions
5.4. War on Poverty (2008) - Household level based interventions (wards)
5.5. Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP 2009)
5.6. 1998 - Agriculture Youth Development Initiative - to capture the interest of youth
5.7. 2008 - Land Affairs Youth Empowerment Strategy
 5.8. 2008 the Department together with industry players adopted AgriBEE - to increase
the extent to which black women, people living with disabilities and youth own and manage
existing and new agricultural enterprises, increasing their access to economic activities,
infrastructure and skills training;
 Empowering rural and local communities to have access to agricultural economic activities,
land, agricultural infrastructure, ownership and skills.
5.8. 2008 the Department of Agriculture launched Youth in Agriculture and Rural
Development (YARD) – a vehicle to spearhead youth development in Land & Agrarian

11. 6. Profiles of Institutions, mechanisms and tools for
the engagement of youth in policy process (strengths
and weaknesses)
6.1. NYDA – Integrated Youth Develop Approach
 NYDA ACT – (54 of 2008) – New Trajectory , National Youth Policy 2009-2014
(NYP).
 IYDS 2011-2016 (June 2011) - provides implementation framework and guide
stakeholders - the National Industrial Policy Framework (NIPF), the Industrial
Policy Action Plan (IPAP), the New Growth Path (NGP), the National Skills
Development-South Africa (NSD-SA), the National Skills Development Strategy
III (NSDS), Broad Based-Black Economic Empowerment Policy and many more.
 Land Affairs Youth Deve Strategy 2008 – To Maintream Youth Dev -yet to be
institutionalised
 YARD OF 2008 – Yet to be institutionalised
 AgriSeta –
 2 TWIN DEPARTMENTS
 Mafisa (small scale), Land Bank (commercial), ARC, ETC.
 Department of Agriculture Experiential Training,, Internship and Professional
Development Policy of 2009

12. Profiles of Institutions, mechanisms and tools for the
engagement of youth in policy process Continue…
 Department of Agriculture Young Professional Development
Programme of 2008 - To promote recruitment, development and retention of a
sustainable cadre of scientists, technologists, technicians and other associated professionals
and management support in the Department of Agriculture (DoA) and the sector.
 National Rural Youth Service Corps programme of 2011 - Special Programmes to
Support CRDP - Rural youth based skills development and job creation programme. A total
of 7 956 youth have been enrolled into the programme.
 Youth Development Directorates at National and Provincial levels of all Departments
and related Developmental Agencies - lack direction
 Lessons learnt from poor planning and fewer achievements were recorded. It would appear that rural policy
in South Africa to date has been largely unfocused, and ineffective:
 It is not the product of contemporary, thoughtful, and informed public debate
 It is a product of top-to-bottom approach which is unable to inspire potential beneficiaries, rural
youth in particular;
 It consists of un-coordinated efforts
 It is often urban policy that is poorly modified to fit nonurban settings
 It has been created with little or no thought for its implications for rural communities.
 It has so far not presented a long term vision of what rural areas should look like.

13. 7. Opportunities for youth engagement in
agriculture
 Legal Framework
- NYDA Act 2008, Land Affairs YD Strategy 2007, IYDS 2011, NGP
2010 etc.
 Along the value chain
 Entrepreneurship – BDS Providers i.e. T&D, input suppliers
 As farmers
 Logistic or transport service
 Food processing e.g. agric scientists, engineers – 4more see our
Gauteng Agro-P Strategy – 11 downstream agropro sub-sectors
 Food storage
 Food distribution / retailing – this is also part of Value Chain
 AgriBEE provides for various possibilities
 Targeted Public Funding
 Land ownership
 Equity ownership
 Targeted Procurement
 Training & Dev
 Investor Friendly

14. 8. Proposal for disseminating the case
study results
 Lobby and Advocacy
 Youth Forums
 Media Forums
 Civil Society
 MOUs and Partnerships with similar minded
organizations, particularly on the ground

15. What does the draft say in a nutshell?
Since the dawn of Democracy, many un-coordinated
attempts to integrate youth development into land &
agrarian reform has been made with little to show off
That there is hope brought about by NYDA & Its
integrated youth development approach
That this FANRPAN Initiative & many other will go a
long way to influence descision makers to promote
and involve youth into the mainstream agricultural
economy.

16. I thank You.
PLEASE Feel free to Comment
or ask Questions?