Agriculture is the main economic activity of most African countries.  Sub-Saharan Africa is seen as the “last frontier” in global food and agricultural markets, with more than half of the world’s uncultivated arable land
The unemployment rate among youth in South Africa is 46%.  Opportunities to create youth employment exist in the emerging farming sector and bring a new dimension of improving productivity through smart technologies. A shift from agriculture to agribusiness is an essential pathway to revitalise small-scale agriculture in South Africa and to make it a more attractive and a profitable venture

Findings from the investigation on challenges faced by young and emerging farmers in KwaZulu-Natal province, specifically in the Durban area, identified barriers such as access to capital/finance, farmland, information and skills development opportunities, contemporary farming technologies, and issues on entrepreneurial orientation.

University of KwaZulu-NatalSwansea University UK, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)University of Cape Coast and LIV Village Agriculture have come together to develop a systemic action learning & action research (SALAR) post-graduate agricultural entrepreneurship curriculum.  The project set out to conduct systemic action learning and action research (SALAR) workshops within a Sub-Saharan African context. They sought to identify challenges facing young and emerging farmers & make recommendations to internal and external stakeholders in academia, industries, government, and civil society action research post-graduate programme in agricultural entrepreneurship to tackle climate change issues.

The project has developed a systemic action learning and action research programme to up-skill youth & potentially narrow the unemployment gap, improve food security systems and contribute to alleviating climate change. The overarching aim of this project is to develop a systemic action learning and action research (SALAR) post-graduate agricultural entrepreneurship curriculum to tackle social innovation within the agricultural sector, youth unemployment and the impact of climate change.

“Agriculture can trigger job-led economic growth, provided it becomes intellectually satisfying and economically rewarding” – M.S. Swaminathan

British Council – Innovation for African Universities Programme (IAU) is implemented by the Centre of Excellence(CoE), a partnership between the City, University of London, the University of Nairobi and ChangeSchool UK. The programme is running in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana & South Africa.

To find out more: Hivebrite link: https://lnkd.in/ehiNa57D