Youth and the Rural Economy in Africa: Hard Work and Hazard

by James Sumberg (Editor)

Overview

This book unites recent findings from quantitative and qualitative research from across Africa to illuminate how young men and women engage with the rural economy and imagine their futures, and how development policies and interventions can find traction with these realities. Through framing, overview, and evidence-based chapters, this book provides a critical perspective on current discourse, research and development interventions around youth and rural development.

Chapters are organized around commonly-made foundational claims: that large numbers of young people are leaving rural areas, have no interest in agriculture, cannot access land, can be the engine of rural transformation, are stuck in permanent waithood, and that the rural economy can provide a wealth of opportunity.

This book:

· Engages with and challenges current research, policy and development debates

· Considers social difference as a way of examining the category of youth.

· Is written by authors from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, providing varied perspectives.

Drawing on existing literature and new analysis of several multi-country and multi-disciplinary studies, this book focuses on gender and other aspects of social difference. It is suitable for researchers, policy makers and advocates, as well as postgraduate students in international development and agricultural economics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789249828
Publisher:	CABI
Publication date:	05/18/2022
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

James Sumberg is an agriculturalist by training and has over 25 years experience working on small-scale farming systems and agricultural research policy in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. A key research interest has been the dynamics of change within agricultural systems.

Table of Contents

1: African youth and the rural economy: Points of departure
2: Empirical windows on African rural youth
3: Are young people abandoning agriculture?
4: Young people and land
5: Mobility and the rural landscape of opportunity
6: Are young people transforming the rural economy?
7: The social landscape of education and work
8: Are rural young people stuck in waithood?
9: Young people’s imagined futures
10: Young people and the rural economy: synthesis and implications