Youth and agriculture in Uganda: an assessment

As the world’s most youthful country, it sits on the cusp of being able to harness the youth dividend. Without a more broadly diversified economy, seizing the opportunities presented by Uganda’s youthful demographic will call for understanding both young people, and a focus on the aspects of agriculture that will need to grow and change to meet the challenge. 

The goal of the assessment is to provide a landscape to inform the development of a sustainable, effective, and results-oriented youth development initiative that will connect agricultural growth with youth leadership and skills development. This assessment will assist USAID to broaden its understanding of issues related to agricultural growth and the potential of value chain development and to connect these to opportunities for youth to develop skills and livelihoods. 

The assessment team concludes that there is great potential value in developing youth participation in agriculture value chains; achieving the potential will require both expansion of agricultural modernization and investment in skill building with young people.