Kathryn Burnham | April 10, 2017
“Youth are not interested in agriculture.”
It’s a refrain heard again and again. In many places, farming is viewed as a job for retired workers. In others, youth simply see more opportunity—or excitement—in the city. Farming and rural populations are aging. But at the same time, youth unemployment is high in many African countries.
How to change this cycle? With a good story—or video.
Agribusiness TV was launched with a lofty goal: “to make agriculture attractive.” Nawsheen Hosenally is one of the co-founders of Agribusiness TV, along with Inoussa Maïga, former Francophone bureau chief for Barza Wire. Ms. Hosenally explains that Agribusiness TV wants to inspire youth to get into agribusiness. “Both for food security and creation of jobs, it is crucial that youth get involved in agriculture,” she adds.
And so Agribusiness TV shares stories about successful youth entrepreneurs. Their stories cover a wide variety of topics from across the value chain, including production, processing, services, nutrition, green jobs, and others. The stories cover crops, livestock, and fisheries.
Stories come from an impressive number of countries. Agribusiness TV was launched in May 2016, and within 10 months has produced 52 videos from 11 countries. Produced in English and French, these stories are promoted on the Agribusiness TV website, via a mobile application, and through social media channels.
“For us, a good story is one which takes the audience through the experience of the entrepreneur—where the inspiration came from, what opportunities they have, and how they started. What innovations are they bringing? What are the challenges that they face?” says Ms. Hosenally.
Why video? “Video is a very powerful tool,” says Ms. Hosenally. She says youth can identify with the people they see in the videos. They can be inspired by the young entrepreneurs and see themselves taking on a similar challenge.
The focus is all on youth, and includes meeting youth in the space where they can most often be found: online. The mobile application is at the core of Agribusiness TV production, with more than 80% of viewers tuning in to their videos through mobiles.
But mobile access isn’t without challenges, namely related to Internet connections. Ms. Hosenally says that poor Internet connections can make production, publishing, and promotion more time-consuming.
Yet this new media venture has been successful, with people watching the videos more than two million times. The goal for the future is more videos from more countries, so that Agribusiness TV can be a reliable source of information for anyone interested in agriculture.
Check out Agribusiness TV here: http://en.agribusinesstv.info/