A few years ago, I met Lakmini Nadeeshani, an inspiring young Sri Lankan woman with a steely-eyed determination to solve one of the country’s major agricultural challenges: reduce the post-harvest losses – as high as 40% – that cost Sri Lanka Rs. 180 billion every year.

This year, I saw her in action again – as a young leader taking the global stage at the 49th session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Governing Council in Rome – where she was leading by example.

The same determination I had seen back then now carried her voice into a room full of decision-makers: a powerful example of how smart investments in the first mile of food systems can build resilience and shape rural prosperity for generations.

The ‘opportunity deficit’

Lakmini’s story is not an exception. Travel through the terraced tea hills and the fertile paddy plains of Sri Lanka, and you will see a new generation of rural youth, eager to adopt modern farming techniques that can help boost agricultural productivity and drive steady incomes. But ambition alone is not enough to build a thriving business.

Today, 1.3 billion young people make up the largest generation in history. A generation that should be brimming with endless opportunities for growth, innovation, and enterprise is instead facing an ‘opportunity deficit’ – a mismatch of talent and opportunity.

In the agriculture sector, investment gaps continue to hinder the ability of young farmers and entrepreneurs to thrive economically. But investing in young agri-entrepreneurs is a necessity, not an option. From feeding the world’s growing population to creating jobs across the entire agricultural value chain, rural young people are central to solving one of the biggest challenges impacting our ability to build resilient food systems.

The agriculture sector still accounts for a quarter of all jobs in Sri Lanka. With an ageing workforce and a youth unemployment rate of 18.6% – roughly four times the national average – a sector this important cannot afford to lose its next generation of farmers without putting the country’s food security at risk.

Across much of the developing world, farming is seen by young people as risky and seasonal, offering little room to get ahead. In Sri Lanka, those perceptions are sharpened by small landholdings, thin access to credit, and the promise of better-paying jobs in the cities and overseas.

Over the years, a series of natural and man-made shocks have only deepened their doubt. For a young person deciding between agriculture and a salaried job in Colombo, the land too often ends up losing.

But this can be reversed.

What turns agriculture from a last resort into a first choice?

A few months ago in Colombo, I watched 400 young agri-entrepreneurs bury the myth that Sri Lanka’s youth have turned their backs on agriculture.

Each of them had grown their ideas into a thriving business through the Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme (SAPP), co-financed by the Government of Sri Lanka and IFAD.

Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, addressing the gathering, captured what was truly at stake: “The role of agribusiness entrepreneurs goes beyond profit-making; it is also about contributing to national security by strengthening food security.” The young people in that room were beyond just building businesses; they were transforming Sri Lanka’s food systems and laying the foundations of a more resilient rural economy.

Young Sri Lankan farmers and agri-entrepreneurs need access to resources, finance, and supportive ecosystems with a strong institutional backing that can protect them from the shocks of climate change, market volatility, and production failures. But how do we get there?

It begins with access. Agriculture demands serious upfront investment that young people rarely have. A youth-focused approach to finance – low-interest loan schemes, matching grants, and repayment schedules that are timed for after harvest, when farmers actually have income – reduces the risk involved for young entrepreneurs who are just starting out.

This must come with youth-focused policies such as developing youth land leasing programmes and cooperative farming models to provide secure land access for young farmers.

Young people are also more inclined to adopt new technologies, but it is often too expensive for them to do so. By providing subsidies and financing for irrigation systems and digital tools, along with technical support services, it can become much easier for young farmers to experiment and innovate.

Similarly, better market access mechanisms through regional collection centres and digital price information systems would help reduce price risks.

When paired with mentoring, climate-resilient farming technologies, and access to markets, young people can build thriving businesses that can withstand a bad season, with the opportunity to live up to their full economic potential.

Sri Lanka already has examples of what this looks like in practice: young agripreneurs who have started growing crops under polytunnels and insect-proof netting – protecting them from bad weather and pests – have seen yields rise by as much as 50%, proof that even modest, well-targeted investment can transform what a small farm is capable of.

Investing in young agri-entrepreneurs is one of the smartest bets Sri Lanka can make. Done well, a single investment can tackle three issues at once: ease youth unemployment, strengthen food security and stability, and boost economic growth and resilience. The returns show up in fuller harvests, higher rural incomes, and a generation ready to transform Sri Lanka’s agribusiness sector into a dynamic, youth-driven engine of inclusive growth.

The question this World Youth Skills Day is not whether Sri Lanka’s young people are ready to drive change. Lakmini has proven they are. It is whether the rest of us – governments, the private sector, and partners like IFAD – will work together to build the right conditions that can support them in building a better future at home.

(The writer is IFAD’s Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. She is a policy and rural development specialist and leads the work on partnership building with the Government, development partners, and civil society, and the work on knowledge management and communication in the countries. Prior to joining IFAD in 2017, she served as the Governance Adviser in the United States Agency for International Development for nine years. She also worked as a project director at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, a private sector development think tank. In addition to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, she has worked in Timor-Leste and Thailand. She received her education in Bangladesh and Thailand in international relations, management, and climate change)

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)