A collaboration between Youth and Agriculture in the Drylands – Realities, Viewpoints, Aspirations and Challenges of Rural Youth A study from the Agricultural Dryland Areas of Midelt Province, Morocco Final Report Authors: A Giuliani1, S Mengel1, C Paisley2, N Perkins3, I Flink5, O Oliveros4, M Wongtschowski5, 1Bern University of Applied Sciences, School for Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences – HAFL 2YPARD, Young Young Professionals for Agricultural Development 3Planet H2O®, Conalway, sarl doing business as (dba) Planet H2O® 4Agropolis Fondation 5KIT (Royal Tropical Institute) Supported by Submitted to: Karin Reinprecht, CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems Date: June 24, 2016 Final revision: 29 June 2016 Cover photos: A Giuliani, S Mengel, N Perkins Figures, tables and boxes that do not indicate a source are based on the present study re- sults and are drafted by the authors. 2 Content Figures ...................................................................................................................................6 Tables ....................................................................................................................................7 Boxes .....................................................................................................................................8 Photos ....................................................................................................................................8 Acronyms ...............................................................................................................................9 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................10 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................12 1.1 Rationale – youth strategy development process in the CRPs .............................. 12 1.2 Objectives of the study ......................................................................................... 13 1.3 Scope of the study and research questions .......................................................... 14 2 State of the art in youth and agriculture research ..........................................................14 2.1 Limitation of existing studies about youth in agriculture ........................................ 14 2.2 Current state of research on the aspirations of youth in agriculture ...................... 15 2.3 Who are ‘youth’? .................................................................................................. 16 2.4 Youth as a heterogeneous group ......................................................................... 17 2.5 Growing youth population ..................................................................................... 17 2.6 Rural youth in Morocco ......................................................................................... 17 2.6.1 Rural and agricultural development in Morocco ......................................... 18 2.6.2 Youth and education in Morocco ............................................................... 18 3 Methodology ..................................................................................................................19 3.1 Literature review, research questions and in-depth interviews with rural youth ..... 20 3.2 Selection of the research site ............................................................................... 20 3.3 In-depth interviews with rural youth ...................................................................... 21 3.4 Focus group discussions (FGDs).......................................................................... 22 3.5 Interviews with key informants and influencers ..................................................... 22 3.6 Multi-stakeholder feedback and validation workshop in Midelt .............................. 22 3.7 Videos .................................................................................................................. 22 3.8 Analysis of the results: tools ................................................................................. 23 4 Information about the research site ...............................................................................23 4.1 Geographic situation and classification ................................................................. 23 4.2 Temperature and precipitation and hydrology ....................................................... 24 4.3 Agricultural production .......................................................................................... 24 4.4 Surveyed site........................................................................................................ 24 4.5 Characteristics of villages (douars) visited ............................................................ 25 5 Findings: Results from individual interviews with the youth ............................................27 5.1 Key observations from the villages ....................................................................... 27 5.2 Respondents’ characteristics: age, household size and marital status .................. 29 3 5.3 Level of education ................................................................................................ 31 5.4 Livelihoods and main occupation .......................................................................... 33 5.4.1 Main occupation ........................................................................................ 33 5.4.2 Second and third source of income ........................................................... 35 5.4.3 Agricultural activities ................................................................................. 35 5.4.4 Other work activities .................................................................................. 36 5.5 Land ownership and market-subsistence production ratio .................................... 37 5.6 Value addition activities ........................................................................................ 38 5.7 Youth’s perception of agriculture .......................................................................... 39 5.8 The financial viability of agriculture ....................................................................... 41 5.9 Development of youth well-being .......................................................................... 42 5.10 Youth’s involvement in decision making ............................................................... 43 5.11 Associations and cooperatives ............................................................................. 44 5.12 The use of information and communication technology (ICT) ............................... 44 5.13 The issue of rural-urban migration ........................................................................ 45 5.14 Know-how, skills and training needed in rural life ................................................. 46 5.14.1 Adopted practices and ideas for improvement and innovation ................... 47 5.15 Challenges and aspirations of youth ..................................................................... 47 5.15.1 Reported challenges and proposed solutions ............................................ 48 5.16 Youth’s dreams and aspirations ........................................................................... 53 5.17 The role of agriculture in a good future life ............................................................ 54 6 Findings: Results from the focus group discussions (FGDs) ..........................................55 6.1.1 Focus group discussion with rural girls from the commune Aït Izdeg, Tissuite village ...................................................................................................... 55 6.1.2 Focus group discussion with rural young men from the commune Tounfite, Aït Lahri village ..................................................................................................... 57 7 Findings: Results from the key informant interviews/ influencers ...................................59 7.1 Views of the direct influencers .............................................................................. 60 7.1.1 Realities of and challenges faced by rural youth from the point of view of the influencers ...................................................................................................... 60 7.1.2 Opportunities ............................................................................................. 61 Skills gaps ............................................................................................................ 61 7.1.3 Recommendations to improve rural youth livelihoods from the perspective of influencers ........................................................................................................ 61 7.1.4 Youth aspirations according to the influencers .......................................... 62 7.1.5 Reflections on the existing programs helping the youth cited by the influencers ............................................................................................................ 62 7.2 Views of the urban youth ...................................................................................... 63 Skill gaps .............................................................................................................. 63 7.2.1 Recommendations for improving rural villages .......................................... 63 4 7.2.2 Own Aspirations