Webinar Agriculture, Food and Jobs in West Africa

03rd July 2018
by secretary

Paepard

28 June 2018. Webinar “Food Employment in West Africa”. Based on the SWAC West African Paper, ‘Agriculture, Food and Jobs in West Africa’ published last April.

The webinar featured presentations by:

Philipp Heinrigs, Senior Economist, SWAC and co-author of the paper.
Ousman Djibo (Project Manager, Agricultural Policy and Food Security, GIZ)
Thomas Reardon (Professor, Michigan State University),
Saweda Liverpool-Tasie (Assistant Professor, Michigan State University)
and Ileana Grandelis (Rural Employment Officer, FAO).

Key discussion points included:

Shifts in labour demand within West Africa’s food systems and drivers for off-farm employment,
Emerging spatial implications, in particular rural-urban linkages and rural employment diversification,
Policy considerations for designing targeted employment strategies that leverage the links between agricultural productivity, off-farm employment and rural-urban areas, particularly for youth and women.

7 June 2018. Brussels. Side event European Development Days. The EC together with ECOWAS and WAEMU organised the High level conference on job creation, growth and competitiveness in West Africa.

Report:

Agriculture, Food and Jobs in West Africa
OECD, April 2018. 32 pages
The food economy is the biggest employer in West Africa accounting for 66% of total employment. While the majority of food economy jobs are in agriculture, off-farm employment in food-related manufacturing and service activities is increasing as the food economy adapts to rapid population growth, urbanisation and rising incomes.

This paper quantifies and describes the structure of employment in the food economy across four broad segments of activities:

agriculture,
processing,
marketing and
food-away-from home.

It examines some of the emerging spatial implications, including rural-urban linkages and rural employment diversification, which are related to the transformations that are reshaping this sector. It then puts forward policy considerations for designing targeted employment strategies that leverage the links between agricultural productivity, off-farm employment and rural-urban areas and that ensure inclusiveness, particularly for youth and women.

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Also available in: French

Extracts:
The food economy is the biggest employer in West Africa. The various activities involved in producing food, from the farm to processing, packaging, transporting, storing, distributing and retailing, account for 66% of total employment, or 82 million jobs. While the majority of these jobs (78%) are in agriculture, off-farm employment in food-related manufacturing and service activities is growing in number and share. (page 5)

Food-away-from-home activities which include street food, restaurants and other catering services, generate 10% of overall off-farm food economy employment, with much higher shares in some urban areas. This shift in labour demand will increase as the food system, including agriculture, continues to specialise and diversify, providing employment opportunities in local food economies. (page 5)

Employment patterns in the food economy are primarily driven by local food demand. At the regional level, the vast majority of food consumption comes from local food production, with food imports representing only 8% of total food expenditure. Food imports and exports also generate employment in the food system. Imports of unprocessed or lightly processed foods such as cereals generate employment in processing and marketing segments, while food exports generate agricultural employment and, to a lesser extent, food processing and food marketing (transport, storage and logistics) employment. (page 8)

The three off-farm food economy segments – food marketing, food processing and food away from home – account for 22% of total food economy employment at the regional level. Although the distribution of employment in the off-farm segments varies by country, there is a clear pattern which shows that food marketing is the largest off-farm segment. (page 10)

The food processing sector is the largest manufacturing sub-sector in terms of employment in the region. Although it accounts for just 5% of food economy employment, it represents 30% of total secondary sector employment. (page 11)

Overall, food economy jobs represent 35% of total urban employment. Food marketing and food-away-from-home account for 57% of all urban food economy jobs. These jobs are closely linked to the size of food markets and vary strongly across countries. (page 15)

Youth can play an important role in the development of food economy activities, including agriculture. The transformations in the food economy mean that greater skills and education are necessary to access employment opportunities and develop activities. (page 17)

An important aspect to acknowledge is that the links between food economy activities (food value chains), which provide the connection between production and final consumption, also reflect the links between rural and urban areas. These spatial linkages across the rural-urban space, between rural areas and small towns and secondary cities, are important elements in food economy development and rural transformation and need to be better understood in order to develop employment opportunities. (page 20)

The employment opportunities in food value chains, including in farming, require skill sets that are rapidly evolving. These include knowing how to use improved technologies (seeds, fertilisers, conservation practices) and information and communications technologies (ICTs) for accessing market information, as well as how to navigate public and private service institutions such as finance, extension support and marketing services. Anticipating and supporting these educational requirements are of major importance to the jobs agenda. (page 22)

The absence of data hinders the study of labour market dynamics in the region and limits the capacity of governments and policy makers to anticipate future transformations and to inform employment policies at local and national levels. (page 24)

Also in the West African Papers series:

The Cost of High Food Prices in West Africa

West African Food Systems and Changing Consumer Demands

Women’s Roles in the West African Food System

Emerging Opportunities in the West African Food Economy

Source: PAEPARD FEED

Webinar Agriculture, Food and Jobs in West Africa

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