Deep Roots

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4.5 million unemployed youth. And when youth, particularly

young men, have few options for income, conflict can result.

The 2012 uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia were not only a

result of high prices for food and fuel, but also of the lack of

jobs and severe social inequities.

At the same time, according to the United Nations, by

2050 about 6.3 billion of a global population of more than

9.3 billion people will be living in cities. Lack of productive

land and limited rural job opportunities are ‘pushing’ young

men to look for work elsewhere. In addition, urban industries,

education and public goods are pulling people to cities, leaving

women, children and the elderly on farms. Often, they have few

resources to manage crops and are dependent on the yield from

harvest to harvest for food. But despite this move to cities, the

World Bank predicts that the majority of the population in sub-

Saharan Africa will be rural in 2030 and that some 330 million

youth will enter the job market over the next 15 years – 195

million of whom will come from rural areas.

Unfortunately, youth don’t see agriculture as a viable job

or career, but as something that lacks prestige and – more

importantly – a reliable source of income. In parts of sub-

Saharan Africa, many farmers earn less than US$2 per day.

And in the United States, farming households depend on

off-farm income for between 85 and 95 per cent of house-

hold income, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Of countries included in the Rural Incomes Generating

Activities Database, the International Fund for Agricultural

Development found that 30-60 per cent of households depend

on at least two sources of income to make up 75 per cent of

total income. Farmers are feeding the world, but not making

enough income from farming alone to feed themselves.

Moreover, there continues to be a disconnect between

people of all ages and where their food comes from. Eaters,

young and old, have forgotten basic culinary and food

processing skills. Not only are youth not becoming farmers,

but they’re also not becoming healthy, nourished eaters.

According to the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, this

lack of knowledge and conviviality about food can lead to

rising youth obesity rates.

But there are solutions. They’re happening all over the

world in fields and classrooms, in kitchens and boardrooms,

and in businesses where youth are seeing tremendous oppor-

tunity in the food system, allowing them to see agriculture as

something they want to do, rather than something they feel

forced to do.

In villages outside of Kampala, Uganda, for example, the

Developing Innovations in School Cultivation project (DISC)

is helping youth build leadership skills around farming. One

of the project’s former students, Betty Nabukala, managed the

school’s garden. She explained that DISC taught the students

‘new’ methods of planting vegetables. Before, she says, “we

used to just plant seeds,” but DISC taught them how to ferti-

lize crops with manure and compost, and how to save seeds

after harvest. More importantly, Betty explained that she and

the students learned that not only can they produce food, they

can also earn money from its sale.

Students learn how to grow, process, and preserve food

and how to celebrate it through juice parties and activities

that allow them to recognize the diversity and uniqueness

of their local food cultures. In Uganda, and throughout sub-

Saharan Africa, local and indigenous foods are often looked

down upon or even thought of as weeds or poor people’s food.

But by re-learning how to cultivate and cook foods that have

long been eaten in Uganda and other countries, students are

learning to appreciate the food their parents and grandparents

ate. Often, these foods are better suited to local climates, more

nutrient dense, and more resilient – making them the foods

of the future as sub-Saharan Africa continues to battle the

impacts of malnutrition and climate change.

DISC was co-founded by Edward Mukiibi, who is now the

Vice-President of Slow Food International. Edie is 28 years

old and has been part of leading efforts around Slow Food’s

Thousand Gardens in Africa initiative, which is implement-

ing gardens in communities and schools across the continent.

“It is time to be proud of being a food producer and revive

our lost food traditions in Africa,” says Mukiibi, adding that

the Thousand Gardens initiative “is an opportunity for young

ones, like me” to strengthen ties between communities but

also within communities through the oral exchange of agri-

cultural traditions and practices. Thanks to DISC and Slow

Food, many students are no longer seeing agriculture as an

option of last resort, but something enjoyable, intellectually

stimulating and economically profitable.

And across the world in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and

Chicago, Illinois, Will Allen is teaching at-risk youth how to

grow food in urban areas. Will, a former professional basket-

ball player, founded the organization Growing Power to train

young people and community members “to become commu-

nity farmers” so they can have access to fresh, safe, affordable

and nutritious food at all times. In Chicago in 2013, Growing

Power’s Iron Street Farm trained more than 300 youth how

to build gardens and greenhouses, build soil, grow vegetables,

All over the world youth are seeing opportunity in the food system,

and seeing agriculture as something they want to do

Image: Bernard Pollack

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