By Christopher Burke
Senior Advisor, WMC Africa
Living in the foot hills of the Rwenzori Mountains in Western Uganda, 22-year-old Josephine dreams of becoming a successful coffee entrepreneur. She has the energy, the training and even the mobile apps to track weather and market prices. One critical piece is missing—secure land rights. Without security of tenure, everything else falls apart. Josephine farms on her family’s land, but nothing is in writing. She cannot use the land as collateral, negotiate long-term supplier contracts or access formal credit. Her situation mirrors that of millions of female and male rural youth across Africa who are locked out of opportunity by the invisible barrier of insecure tenure.
Governments, donors and the private sector are investing heavily in youth employment and agribusiness acceleration. Agri-food systems accounts for approximately 65 percent of employment across the continent. Youth under 25 make up 60 percent of Africa’s population. Over 73 percent of the population in Uganda is below the age of 30 and approximately 41 percent of the people employed aged 14-64 work in agriculture, forestry and fishing. For all the enthusiasm around youth-led agribusiness, land tenure reform is conspicuously absent in most programs.
Institutional Barrier to Youth Enterprise
Land is a foundational asset for agricultural entrepreneurship. It determines who can grow what, access finance, make investments or sign supply contracts. Secure tenure–whether formally titled or legally recognized customary rights—provides individuals with confidence to invest in land improvements, plant perennials and enter into long-term business relationships.
Development research has firmly established the link between secure property rights and enterprise development. When land rights are clear and enforceable, investment rises, especially in land-dependent sectors such as agriculture. Tenure security varies across most of rural sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank estimates that up to 90 percent of rural land is undocumented, often governed by customary systems that are commonly manipulated to exclude women and youth from ownership or control.
What the Data Tells Us: Real-World Insights from Uganda’s Coffee Belt
Recent research in Uganda’s Kalungu and Ibanda districts by HereWeGrow, a non-profit focused on coffee farmer livelihoods, provides insights on the link between land security and farmer investment. In both districts, over 60 percent of land was held under bona fide occupancy and the majority of coffee-growing households were managing plots without formal documentation.
Findings showed that small-scale coffee farmers derived approximately 50 percent of their household income from coffee production, yet only a minority accessed loans for farm improvement. Most farmers relied on informal credit from friends or Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) due to limited collateral—primarily because their land rights were undocumented. In Ibanda, farmers borrowed on average USH1 million (US$274) during peak demand seasons such as February mostly to cover education fees and farm inputs.
A 2020 study by the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) implemented across five districts in Uganda found that only 25 percent of women interviewed owned their land independently, while 30 percent co-owned land with their spouses. This lack of tenure security not only constrained women’s access to credit, but limited their participation in coffee marketing and value addition activities such as roasting or group sales.
Why Current Youth Agri-Programs Fall Short
Many agricultural development initiatives focus on training, startup kits and market access. While these efforts are critical, they often fall short because they ignore underlying structural constraints. Secure access to land is perhaps the most overlooked.
The World Bank funded Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP) supported smallholder farmers with inputs, market access and post-harvest infrastructure. While yields for crops including coffee increased registered an extraordinary 172 percent increase from 1,050 to 2,860 kg/ha—access to finance remained a barrier for many due to lack of land documentation. The evaluation of the project emphasized the need to integrate land tenure improvements into broader value chain development strategies.
Integrating Tenure into Youth Livelihood Strategies
To make youth-led agricultural transformation a reality, we must integrate land tenure reform into the heart of employment strategies. Reform efforts must begin with scalable, participatory documentation systems that lower the cost of securing tenure. Tools such as Certificates of Customary Ownership (CCOs), already piloted in Uganda, offer a practical path forward.
Equally important is the need for financial institutions to adapt. Banks and microfinance organizations should be encouraged to accept legally recognized customary tenure documents as collateral. Programs in Ghana and Tanzania have demonstrated that bridging the gap between informal tenure and formal finance is possible and effective.
Policymakers also need to create youth-inclusive land policies. This may include the promotion of intergenerational land transfer models, youth land banks or long-term lease arrangements to give young people the necessary security to invest. These efforts must be complemented by social norm change, particularly around women’s rights to own and manage land. Legal literacy, land mapping campaigns and sensitization of all relevant stakeholders including traditional leaders are essential.
Land tenure reform cannot exist in a silo. It should be bundled into broader agricultural support programs comprising incubators, extension services, input schemes and market integration efforts. Secure land rights must be the launch pad—not an afterthought—for rural enterprise development.
Ownership is Opportunity
We cannot train, finance or digitize our way out of Africa’s rural youth employment challenge without addressing the foundation of rural enterprise: land ownership. If we want young people such as Josephine to thrive, not just survive, in agriculture; we must ensure they have the rights, recognition and tools to build a future on land they can call their own. The path to youth employment runs through secure land tenure.
End
Christopher Burke is a senior advisor at WMC Africa, a communications and advisory agency located in Kampala, Uganda. With nearly 30 years of experience, he has worked extensively on social, political and economic development issues, focused on land governance, agriculture, environmental issues, communications, advocacy, conflict mediation and peace-building in Asia and Africa.
Stay updated with the latest farming tips and agriculture industry news from Africa by subscribing to our newsletter. Don’t miss out on valuable insights and updates. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to join our farming community and stay connected with us.
