All around the world, inequalities persist in the complex web of social, economic, and ecological factors that mediate food security outcomes at different human and institutional scales. There have been rapid and continuous improvements in agricultural productivity and better food security in many regions of the world during the past 50 years due to an expansion in crop area, irrigation, and supportive policy and institutional initiatives. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is inverted. Statistics show that food insecurity has risen since 2015 in Sub-Saharan African countries, and the situation has worsened owing to the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing implications of the COVID-19 threat. This review looks into multidimensional challenges to achieving the SDG2 goal of “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” in Sub-Saharan Africa and the prosper policy recommendations for action. Findings indicate that weak economic growth, gender inequality, high inflation, low crop productivity, low investment in irrigated agriculture and research, climate change, high population growth, poor policy frameworks, weak infrastructural development, and corruption are the major hurdles in the sustaining food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Promoting investments in agricultural infrastructure and extension services together with implementing policies targeted at enhancing the households’ purchasing power, especially those in rural regions, appear to be essential drivers for improving both food availability and food access.

The primary aim of this study was to undergo exploratory research, using a systematic mapping of literature to ascertain the current knowledge level on agripreneurship concepts, agripreneurial opportunities, behaviors, performance, and challenges affecting agripreneurial development in developing countries. A systematic mapping technique was used involving PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) methodology. A comprehensive search of Google Scholar and Science Direct that produced a total sample of 47 research articles from 2010 to 2020. The literature review identified an array of definitions of agripreneurship, implying that there is still no unified definition of agripreneurship. The exploratory study also found input supply, production, agro-processing, marketing, transportation, and services viable business opportunities for potential youth agripreneurs. Moreover, the study identified a host of factors influencing agripreneurship behavior. Personality traits, psychological, and contextual factors such as perceived government support and social networking were highlighted as essential determinants driving agripreneurial ventures. In most research revealed that agripreneurial orientation, skill, personality traits, and perceived government and family and friends support significantly impact business performance. However, the review highlight several challenges affecting agripreneurship development in developing countries, such as lack of government support, discouragement from family and friends, poor infrastructure, imperfect market institutions, lack of agripreneurial skills, and inadequate credit facilities for agripreneurial ventures

Agripreneurship is a new buzzword in the discourse on economic development. It is a new global idea aiming to change agriculture from a subsistence sector to a competitive business. The primary objective of this study is to document the level of knowledge of young agripreneurs. The study also assesses factors that stimulated their interest in initiating agribusiness ventures in The Gambia. To achieve this, survey data were collected from 384 young agripreneurs using a self-administered questionnaire in five agricultural zones in the Gambia. Data were analyzed using descriptive factor and k-mean cluster analyses. The findings indicated that the respondents had a medium knowledge of all agripreneurial behavioral components used in the study. Based on the push-pull anchor framework, we found that young agripreneurs about family misfortune, lack of job opportunities, dismissal from the previous job, poverty (push factors), low financial status, economic independence and the pursuit of self-actualization (push factors), opportunities in agriculture and the encouragement from the government (mooring factors) all play a significant role in the motivation to pursue agripreneurship. Furthermore, the results of the cluster analysis revealed four distinct groups of young farmers: ambitious agripreneurs, financial reward seekers, agribusiness lovers, and social protectors.  Kruskal Wallis and post hoc tests indicated statistically significant differences between groupings. These findings suggest that for policymakers to understand the potential of the agripreneurship sector, it is a need to pay close attention to the level of knowledge and motivations of agripreneurs in order to design appropriate policies for greater participation of youth in agripreneurship. Implications for theory, as well as limitations and potential future directions, were discussed.

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