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Both agriculture and young people are high on African development agendas. African governments, through the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme,(CAADP) have agreed to commit at least ten percent of their budgets to agriculture with the goal of a six percent growth in the sector. By the end of 2010, 22 governments had prepared and signed regional compacts setting out a strategy and investment plan for agricultural development (IFPRI 2010). Greater attention on African agriculture is also reflected in an increased aid policy focus (de Janvry and Sadoulet 2012). The underlying rationale is to increase productivity across agro-industry so that agriculture can play its historic role as an ‘engine’of economic growth in the transition to more industrialised economies. Interest in agriculture has been further heightened by the food, fuel and financial crises and the knock-on effects on both rural producers and consumers. There are concerns too about the impacts of the crises on young people, and in African policy agendas this is reflected in increased attention to high rates of youth unemployment and underemployment.

However, little research has been, or is being published, and presumably conducted, linking youth and agriculture in Africa. A rapid review of academic literature published between 1980 and 2010, and relating in some way to young people and Africa, found that 65 percent of 2,523 papers focused on health, sexuality/reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition and disabilities/mental health (Kuchanny and Sumberg 2011). Taken together, agriculture (23 articles), employment/livelihoods (70 articles) and child labour …