Becoming a young farmer in Rwanda: aspirations, pathways and challenges

This study investigates young people’s aspirations and pathways towards becoming farmers and the social structures and institutional challenges on their pathways to become successful farmers and ensure their future in agriculture in Rwanda. Focusing on the Bugesera district, the study specifically investigates how access to agricultural resources, such as land, affects young people’s success in farming as an occupation and employment source. Using semi-structured online interviews with 12 young people who are currently practising farming, their farming journey and experiences were deeply studied to understand how their aspirations and pathways to become farmers have been shaped. Moreover, how young people use their agency to overcome the constraints they face are also investigated in this study. Young people’s aspirations to become farmers are shaped through doxic logic of aspiration: unquestioned mainstream propaganda transmitted through school, media, and policy and habitus logic of aspiring, constructed by daily life conditions for a given individual’s position in a certain social structure. The study found that young people’s aspirations tend to emerge and are (re)shaped through a life course, and their pathways to becoming farmers are not smooth; it is a long, non-linear process. For some, aspirations start shaping during their childhood formed through relational processes within a family/household. For others, it is a journey they start later after finishing a certain level of education, such as high school or undergraduate studies. The study also identified the key challenges young people face while establishing themselves as farmers; these include access to land and agricultural inputs, poor rural infrastructure including internet access, and lack of farming knowledge and skills. However, young people apply their agency to counter these challenges. Their efforts include farming collectively in groups by pulling resources and sharing farming knowledge on social media platforms. The study suggests that governmental and non-governmental actors engaged in promoting young people’s employment in agriculture should focus on addressing the key identified challenges young people face to ensure that young people have a future in agriculture.