Youth in Agri-Entrepreneurship in Nepal. Agency in Times of Change

Sammanfattning

In light of global patterns of youth disengagement from farming, agri-entrepreneurship emerges as an opportunity for youth to reconnect with agriculture. This research investigates the experiences of young agri-entrepreneurs in Nepal. Embedded in a context of youthunemployment, migration, and the recent Gen Z movement, this study focuses on Nepali youth who exert agency through developing agri-businesses. It aims to understand youths’ underlying motivations and how they navigate challenges and constraints in agri-entrepreneurship.Thereby, it explores the neglected aspect of agency in youth agri-entrepreneurship research.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 youth agri-entrepreneurs in Nepal, drawing on a diverse sample from rural and urban areas. The findings highlighted youths’ desire to drive change in multiple spheres through agri-entrepreneurship, including generating income and employment, and countering migration pressures. Youth faced resource, market, governance and societal constraints in Nepal’s agri-business context. They navigated challenges through peer support, problem-solving, accepting multiple roles, active learning, perseverance, patience, passion and persistence. These capacities to act and youth intentions reveal how youth agency unfolds in a context of change and constraints to agri-entrepreneurship. It indicates that youth agency is central to maneuvering in agri-entrepreneurship, while policy needs to address constraints to scaling up youth agri-entrepreneurship opportunities.