Africa's growth

Young people in Africa invest in agriculture – city life too expensive

More and more young Africans are moving to the countryside to try to make a living from farming, reports the AP.

The reason is that unemployment and the cost of living in the big cities are rising at the same time as it is becoming increasingly profitable to run a farm. Among other things, you can get paid more for what you produce because food prices have risen. In addition, new technologies have been introduced and irrigation systems have improved.

The costs of housing and food in big cities such as Dakar and Nairobi are approaching the levels in European cities despite wages being significantly lower, according to the World Bank. At the same time, 10–12 million young Africans enter the workforce each year, while only about 3 million jobs are created.

Filly, 33, left Dakar to become a farmer

33-year-old Filly Mangassa moved to the Senegalese capital Dakar with dreams of becoming a professor. But after a master's degree in criminology, he realized that the lack of jobs combined with the high cost of living made city life impossible. He therefore decided to return to his hometown to earn a living as a farmer.

“My father and some in my family saw my return to the countryside as a bit of a step backwards,” he says.

But new, better conditions have led to better opportunities to earn money in agriculture, and today Mangassa has an income that is well above the average for Senegal,” he says.

“Many of my friends who graduated at the same time as me now work as motorcycle taxi drivers and barely make ends meet.