IFPRI Blog: Event Post | Africa Region Office

Key takeaways

• Job numbers alone will not draw young people into agrifood systems. Work must also be dignified and fulfilling. It needs to offer stable income, respect, opportunity, and a sense of purpose for youth to see agriculture as a viable pathway.
• Young people are already active across Kenya’s agrifood value chains. Their participation differs sharply by gender, shaped by mobility, unpaid care work, and access to resources.
• Skills training alone is not enough. Sustainable youth employment requires integrated support, including finance, mentorship, market access, technology, and systems that address restrictive gender norms.

Kenya’s agrifood systems hold significant potential to create employment for the youth. However, increasing job numbers is just one aspect of the challenge. For young people to view agriculture as a viable pathway to a better future, the work must also offer stable income, respect, opportunity, and a sense of purpose.

This was at the heart of a recent webinar hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Mastercard Foundation, which discussed emerging findings from a qualitative study of youth employment in Kenya’s agrifood value chains. The webinar was conducted virtually on 28 July 2026. It was attended by around 100 local and regional stakeholders, researchers, youth networks, policymakers, and other government representatives.

According to Dr. Awa Sanou of the MasterCard Foundation, the research’s value lies in anchoring policies and programmes in the real-world experiences of young people, which helps ensure that interventions are relevant and effective. “We must go beyond stereotypes and pay close attention to the people whose lives and livelihoods are most affected by our decisions to design effective programmes.” She said.

This emphasis on listening and evidence is important because young people are already active participants in Kenya’s agrifood system (AFS).

Young people are already part of Kenya’s agrifood value chains

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, young people aged 18–35 account for approximately 36% of the population. With as many as 800,000 young people entering Kenya’s labour market annually, youth employment remains a vital policy concern (KIPPRA, 2024). This issue is prevalent throughout much of Africa, where ensuring access to dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for young people remains a key development goal (World Bank, 2023).

The research explores how young women and men participate in agricultural value chains, the barriers they face in securing, and aspirations towards dignified and fulfilling jobs. The research, drawing on qualitative data from six counties in Kenya, indicate that young people are already involved in various parts of the agrifood value chain, ranging from production and processing to aggregation, transport, and marketing. Nonetheless, their levels and types of participation differ significantly, especially across genders and social backgrounds.

The findings indicate that young men tend to participate more in activities that require mobility, such as distributing inputs and outputs. Conversely, young women are more involved in processing and small-scale retail. These patterns are influenced not only by personal choices but also by societal expectations regarding gender roles, mobility, unpaid care work, and access to resources. As Emily Myers, a Senior Research Analyst at IFPRI, noted, young women and men are active across various parts of the agricultural value chain but often in different ways.

Gender norms continue to shape who can participate and how

One clear finding of the research is that restrictive gender norms influence young women’s participation across the value chain.

Young women often face greater constraints on mobility and are expected to shoulder a disproportionately higher share of unpaid domestic and care work. Their economic contributions are mostly undervalued. While young men running agricultural businesses may be recognized as entrepreneurs, young women undertaking similar activities are sometimes described as merely “helping” men.

These perceptions have tangible economic consequences. Young women may have fewer opportunities to access productive assets, capital, markets, and equipment. In some communities, social expectations can also discourage women from travelling to markets even when these activities are directly supporting their livelihoods.

The research points to the need for approaches that address these norms directly. Household and community dialogues, for example, can bring women and men together to identify shared goals and challenge assumptions about who can perform particular roles within AFS.

The barriers go beyond skills

The research identifies limited skills as a constraint to youth employment, but also that training alone will not be enough and that systems that enable young people to turn those skills into viable livelihoods are needed.

Young people reported challenges accessing productive resources. Climate and unpredictable rainfall patterns also affect agricultural production and downstream activities that depend on it. For young women, these challenges are compounded by gender norms, safety concerns, harassment, and limited control over productive resources.

This points towards a more holistic approach to youth employment. As George Njoroge, Country Coordinator for the Farm-to-Market Alliance at WFP Kenya, noted during the webinar, programmes are more likely to generate sustainable opportunities when training is combined with finance, mentorship, market access, technology, and business development services. Such integrated efforts can foster a sense of shared purpose among stakeholders and motivate collective action.

Digital tools are already changing how young people work

Digital technology is increasingly part of Kenya’s agrifood economy. Mobile phones are used to contact buyers, receive payments, access information, and coordinate transactions. Digital platforms are becoming important channels for connecting young people with farmers and buyers.

But access to technology does not automatically translate into equal opportunity.

The cost of data and airtime remains a major constraint. Device ownership is also unequal, particularly for young women who may depend on smartphones owned by other household members. Limited digital skills, unreliable electricity and connectivity, language barriers, fraud, and concerns around online safety further restrict effective use.

The research therefore highlights the importance of moving beyond generic digital literacy towards practical, hands-on training tailored to young people’s specific roles in agrifood value chains. Digital content should also be available in multiple languages and designed to be accessible to people with disabilities. This approach can build confidence among young users and ensure they feel supported in leveraging digital tools effectively.

From standalone interventions to stronger ecosystems

Another important message emerging from the research and WFP’s experience is that youth employment cannot be addressed through isolated interventions.

Mechanisation can reduce physical labour constraints, but young people also need financing, training, and alternative ownership models. Groups, cooperatives, aggregation centres, and savings and lending mechanisms can help young people pool resources, reduce transport costs, strengthen bargaining power, and access markets. Mentorship and peer networks can provide role models and practical support.

There is also a strong case for strengthening connections between different parts of the agrifood ecosystem. Digital marketplaces, market linkages, financial services, climate-resilient technologies, business development services, and private-sector investment can work together to reduce the risks young people face and help them capture more value from their participation.

Putting young people at the centre

The evidence points to an important shift in how youth employment in AFS should be understood.

Young people are not waiting to be brought into agriculture. They are already participating as producers, processors, traders, aggregators, and input suppliers. The challenge is to ensure that the systems surrounding these activities allow them to build sustainable livelihoods.

For young women in particular, this means addressing the structural and social barriers that limit their autonomy, mobility, access to assets, time, and voice. It also means recognising them as economic actors in their own right, rather than as helpers within male-led enterprises.

As IFPRI’s Development, Strategies, and Governance Unit Director Dr Were Omamo noted in his closing remarks, opportunity alone is not enough for employment to be truly dignified and fulfilling. Young people need equitable access to the resources, systems, and enabling environments that allow them not only to participate in agrifood value chains, but to thrive within them.

The task ahead is therefore not simply to create more jobs. It is to build inclusive, resilient, and rewarding AFS in which young women and men can see a future for themselves.

For IFPRI and its partners, generating evidence is an important first step. The next is translating that evidence into policies, investments, and programmes that respond to the realities and aspirations of young people themselves.

This webinar formed part of IFPRI’s 2026 Outward Facing Dissemination Strategy under the Strengthening Food Systems for Youth research project, supported by the Mastercard Foundation and undertaken in partnership with the World Food Programme.