Abstract
Africa’s agricultural transformation through large-scale agricultural land investments (LALIs) aims at increasing production; create employment opportunities, and enhance infrastructure development. After years of ‘experimentation’ and incentives to investors to boost this transformation process, the expected transformation has not translated adequately to increased job opportunities for the active population, particularly the youth. This study engages the Living Standard Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) to provide empirical insights to this disconnect. Using the Tanzania case study, the study shows that the occurrence of LALIs has not effectively delivered on its expectations of employment creation for the youths mainly influenced by the framework and capacity of indigenous institutions. The chapter presents some recommendations on how informal institutions and local capacity can be harnessed to ensure that LALIs create youth employment opportunities in Tanzania.
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Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges the Fellowship Award from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation [Ref: 3.4-NGA/1147508]. The study draws some insights from the research project funded by the African Growth and Development Policy Modelling Consortium (AGRODEP)/International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), under the Innovative Research Grant [Ref: 2015X192.GIT]. The earlier versions of the paper have been presented in conferences, notably: UNU-WIDER Development Conference on Transforming Economies for Better Jobs, Bangkok, Thailand, September 2019; and Conference on Land Policy in Africa organized by African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa & African Development Bank, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 2017). The views expressed are those of the authors.
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Osabuohien, E.S., Efobi, U.R., Gitau, C.M., Osabohien, R.A., Adediran, O.S. (2020). Youth (Un)employment and Large-Scale Agricultural Land Investments: Examining the Relevance of Indigenous Institutions and Capacity in Tanzania. In: Osabuohien, E.S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41513-6_19
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