Let’s shift our focus from emergency aid to investment in human capital
If we invest in our young people—if we skill them, particularly in areas that ensure Africa’s self-sufficiency and global relevance—then we create a different future.
In 2025, I will be 74 years old and when you get to that age, introspection is a daily process. You assess your impact globally and locally. The weight of the choices you have made sits with you. You become more focused on legacy and on how that legacy can inspire your thinking about the future.
The greater part of my life has been spent in trying to serve Africa, both home and away. I have been a teacher, a minister, and prime minister and CEO. I have headed various continental agencies and served on many global and continental initiatives, among others, policy formulation, economic development, financing, education, agriculture, and health. In that time, I have had front row seat to Africa’s best and worst moments.
As I write this, the continent continues to face political challenges dictated by terrorism, violent extremism and several coups leading to changes of governments. While the reasons these security lapses start are varied and layered, I hold that they are sustained because of a deficit in human dignity on our continent.
Lennart Nordenfely presents four kinds: The dignity of merit, the dignity of moral or existential stature, the dignity of identity and the universal human dignity (Menschenwürde). When people feel they have no merit, when their identity is stripped from them, when they lack moral standing due to externalities such as poor governance, and when their universal dignity is not recognised, conflict finds fertile ground. A continent where millions of young people see no viable future is a continent on the brink. It is dry kindling, waiting for the smallest of sparks to set it ablaze.
Africa has the youngest population in the world. By 2050, one in four people on the planet will be African. This demographic reality is both a challenge and an immense opportunity. If our young people are not skilled, employed, and meaningfully engaged, we will continue to see social unrest, instability, and migration crises. But if we invest in them—if we skill them, particularly in areas that ensure Africa’s self-sufficiency and global relevance—then we create a different future. We starve conflict of sustenance.
Food production stands out as one of the most critical areas where Africa’s youth can be engaged meaningfully. The continent has 60 percent of the world’s arable land, yet it remains a net importer of food, because what is farmed is mostly cash crops for export while the staple crops of our diet as Africans, comes from outside the continent.
At the moment, 80 percent of the continent’s labour force “remains mired in non-modern agricultural practices,” according to the AUC. Per capita food production has only risen marginally. We continue to lose over 30 percent of the food we produce before it reaches consumers.
This paradox is not just an economic problem; it is a crisis of dignity. How can a continent so richly endowed be unable to feed itself? How can young Africans, brimming with potential, remain unemployed while food insecurity ravages their communities? How can we claim trade deficit if we refuse to grow food that we can trade with each other?
Investing in agricultural skills for Africa’s youth is not just about economic empowerment; it is about restoring dignity. It is about making sure that no young African has to risk their life crossing the Mediterranean because they believe their homeland has nothing to offer. It is about ensuring that no child goes to bed hungry when their country has the means to produce enough. It is about denying those that fund conflict and war of labour in the form of soldiers. It is about making Africa a food powerhouse.
We must shift our focus from emergency aid to long-term investment in human capital. Agriculture needs to be attractive, technologically advanced, and profitable for young people. Policies that encourage local food production, protect our markets, and reward innovation in agribusiness are needed. Above all, a sense of dignity has to be instilled in African youth—dignity that comes from knowing they are capable, valued, and essential to the future of their continent.
Dignity is the foundation of peace. A young person who sees a future in their country, who has work that gives them purpose, and who feels valued in their society is far less likely to take up arms or migrate in desperation. Africa’s stability and prosperity depend on whether we choose to invest in this dignity today.
There is no reason why we should not surpass South Asia’s production. I see this as one of the most urgent calls to action. Once Africa’s young people are skilled for food production, the transformation of our continent from a land of untapped potential to a land of realised promise can be a reality.
Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki is African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems. He is a former Prime Minister of Niger, and former CEO of the African Union Development Agency.
