Who is leaving African agriculture? Nine stylized facts on youth, women, and agrifood employment in 15 countries

Résumé fourni par la source

Sub-Saharan Africa faces an unprecedented labor market challenge: over the next decade, hundreds of millions of young people will enter a workforce still concentrated in the agrifood system (AFS). Yet the demographic structure of AFS employment remains poorly understood, i.e., how youth and women participate across farming, processing, trade, and food services across the region. Here we analyze disaggregated employment data across 15 sub-Saharan African countries, differentiating AFS employment by age and sex across three country groups defined by their stage of structural transformation. We report nine stylized facts that challenge prevailing narratives. Contrary to common belief, youth are not disproportionately exiting agriculture relative to adults. Women and youth are more concentrated in the nonfarm AFS, especially in diversified economies where such opportunities are more prevalent, but gender segmentation deepens with transformation as male employment becomes more concentrated in commercial agriculture and women dominate downstream food-service roles. These patterns call for differentiated, transformation-aware policies to make AFS employment more productive and inclusive for Africa's youth and women.

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