ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the entrepreneurial activities that young people living in rural settlements in Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia engage in. In each country, two to three rural settlements with slightly different characteristics were selected for the study. The book focuses on a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collected in each rural settlement, the livelihood strategies of young people. The combined concern for high youth unemployment and low agricultural production has resulted in a wide range of policy makers and development professionals promoting youth involvement in agriculture as the solution to both issues. The lack of involvement of young people in agriculture is typically portrayed as a problem since it results in young people migrating out of rural areas, ageing farm populations, low agricultural productivity, high levels of youth unemployment, and the persistence of rural poverty.
