Drawing on lessons learned from FAO's work with eleven African countries - Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda, this report identifies key challenges regarding youth's access to finance, land, technical services and information as well as the engagement of youth in policy-making processes.

According to the report, measures that empower young agri-entrepreneurs should be a key component of a sustainable development-centred investment promotion strategy. The realization of future generations' food security, the sustainable transformation of food systems and the combat against unemployment and distress migration all depend upon the successful implementation of strategies to make the agri-food sector more attractive to youth. This, in turn, requires smart policy responses that will help young investors overcome the numerous barriers they face.

The report contains a set of key policy recommendations for the empowerment of young agri-entrepreneurs, including but not limited to developing clear targeting criteria that determine the conditions of access to incentive schemes, providing packages of incentives rather than stand-alone or isolated support interventions, and ensuring that the overall policy and legal framework empowers, rather than impedes, young agri- entrepreneurs' investments.