Research Articles How Youth and Women Are Key to Senegal’s Farming Future

The agricultural sector is one of the pillars of this central African country’s economy, with an estimated contribution of 15% to Senegal's GDP in 2018. Furthermore, 60% of the population in rural areas continues to depend directly on farming for their livelihoods, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 

In Evaluating rural household well-being and empowerment among women and young farmers in Senegal, published in the international journal Data in Brief, researchers conducted a survey of over 1500 smallholder farming households from the Sedhiou and Tambacounda regions in southern Senegal, with 70 percent of respondents being women over 35 and 30% being people between the ages of 18-34. 

“The idea of our review was to empower women and young people,” says lead author Cyrus Muriithi, a researcher and data analyst at the Alliance. 

The researchers say that the data gathered in the survey highlights a significant knowledge gap about women and young people's farming practices in the prevailing climate change conditions (droughts due to increasing temperatures). 

Rural women represent almost 70% of Senegal's workforce and produce 80% of the country's national food supply, while more than 60% of Senegal’s population is under the age of 25, highlighting the importance of supporting their farming needs. Muriithi explains that despite this demographic representation, both women and youth are excluded from day-to-day decision-making processes on farms. 

“There is a lot of discrimination in terms of who controls the resources, which favors men over women, especially in the more lucrative parts of the supply chain; e.g., women are often expected to both do the housework and work on the farm,” says Muriithi, adding that although children are still expected to participate in farm labor, few young people see agriculture as an appealing occupation.  

“Most women don't have access to a mobile phone, it’s the husband who has the access,” says Issa Ouedraogo, a Senior Scientist and Country Representative for Senegal at the Alliance, “You can have innovation, but if you don't have access to land, it's hard to implement.”  

Muriithi points out that as the majority of people in these areas depend on local agriculture for 90% of their diet, improving agricultural skills can benefit both communities economically.  

“One way to achieve this is through training and access to efficient markets where farmers and traders have information and are already incorporated in the price mechanism,” he says, “For example, when farmers receive good prices for their crops, young individuals can earn more money compared to if they sought employment in urban areas, thus making agriculture appealing for youth.” 

Ouedraogo explains that because traditional sources of agricultural information - such as the migration of birds or insects, the flourishing of specific plant species, and other signs - are being disrupted by climate change, innovation is urgently needed.  

“The older men own the land and the equipment, and now, even though the young people have access to innovative techniques and information, it's hard to convince the elders to make the change,” Ouedraogo says, “However, young people are already exposed to innovation, and they can train older people.”  

Climate-smart Agriculture 

The researchers say one of the key uses of the survey is to understand the impact of the adoption of Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA) practices - a set of agricultural processes and technologies which aim to boost productivity, enhance resilience and reduce GHG emissions.  

Ouedraogo explains that the most useful part of these practices is climate information services, which is the provision of data and knowledge to inform agricultural decision making.