IR can be described as the period of time during which work began to be done more by machines in factories than by hand. Over the past 2 centuries, IR transformed the world most profoundly in human history since the neolithic revolution. The neolithic revolution about 12,000 years ago (i.e. the first agricultural revolution when people began to farm and used polished stone tools, which was succeeded by the Bronze Age.) is the period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, thereby making an increasingly larger population possible.

United Nations Report and Youth Engagement in Agriculture: The Perception Problem?
By 2050, the demand for food will surge by 70%, which aligns with rapid population growth. Research findings from a UN study indicates that about 9.9% of global population still goes hungry, so the thought of feeding almost 10 billion persons is still anticipated as daunting. With environmental changes hard to predict, we must turn to innovation in agriculture technology. The role of youths and youngsters of Africa is really a concern as their perception towards farming and agribusiness is outdated and regarded as wrong. Their importance in tackling this issue cannot be over emphasized. Hence, the concept of brain re-engineering and reimagination which underscores it as a prospective strategy for enhancing youth engagement in agriculture and its enterprise, thereby building their entrepreneurship capacity. I reckon, from the findings of previous high level panel of experts (HLPE) studies about youths in driving transformation outlines as follows:
• That youth are on the front lines to build the food systems of the future, while also bearing significant risks from climate change, social and economic inequities, and political marginalization.
• That food systems provide a wide spectrum of opportunities for the engagement and employment of young people across diverse global contexts, but these jobs do not always provide decent and meaningful work or adequate livelihoods.
• In response, policies and initiatives to protect and strengthen youth engagement and employment in food systems need to be based on the pillars of rights, equity, agency and recognition. The redistribution of resources, knowledge, and opportunities for youth innovation and engagement in the development of context-specific employment and labour policies can not only contribute to creating jobs for youth but can also directly support transitions to sustainable food systems.


While many politicians stall at a glance, agriculture technology start-ups are busy taking action
Brain ReEngineering and Reimagination
The core focus of brain re-engineering and reimagination conceptualises and hinges on changing this perception problem Africa’s youths have agriculture as it stands to provide a veritable strategy for transforming sunken economies through the agriculture or agribusiness sector in an age where environmental concerns and climate change issues are an all-time high; and sadly, sustainable farming is a hotbed subject. Our population is growing, and increasing shortages of land and water pose a noteworthy threat to the longevity of humans as we know it. But while many politicians stall at a glance, agriculture technology start-ups are busy taking action.

We must establish that advances in machinery have increased the scale, speed and productivity of farm equipment. Hence, this leads to a more efficient cultivation of more inputs and variables in productive lands with seeds, fertilizers and irrigation also have greatly improved thereby ultimately helping farmers in increasing their yields in either crops, livestock, agroforestry or fisheries.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Precision Farming: Bridging the Gap
The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is characterised by the blurring of boundaries between the physical, digital & biological worlds. It is a fusion of the advances in agricultural innovation systems (AIS) which explains about people, their knowledge, technology, infrastructure and cultures they have created or learned, who they work with, what new ideas they are experimenting with. Examples of AIS are: agricultural drones, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, Internet of things (IoTs) and automation; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and genetic editing (Biotechnology & Nanotechnology).

Precision agriculture is an approach to farm management that uses IT to ensure that the crops and soil receive exactly what they need for optimum health and productivity. The goal of PA is to ensure profitability, sustainability & protection of the environment. Conclusively, new technology solutions, including chemicals and larger tractors, allowed farmers to work larger areas of land with less labour. Government policies encouraged farmers to scale up their operations. Farmers were also motivated by economies of scale—the economic advantage of producing larger numbers of products.

Identifying the latest teeming productive and prolific technology options in agriculture for youths are drones which are mainly employed in following ways: to monitor crops, spray fertilizers and pesticides. They are referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles. This latest trend in agriculture and agricultural technology is revolutionalising the agriculture space by lessening the amount of labour required to propagate a crop.

Technological innovations have, to a great extent shaped the agriculture sector throughout time
Focus on Agricultural Production
Truly, the potential level of agricultural production is generally considered to be determined by physical factors such as quality of the soil, quality and availability of water and the prevailing climate. In so doing, the need of the hour is to drive transformation in an economy through these recent new dimensions of technology since the whole idea of brain re-engineering seizes the opportunity and leverages on the advent of technology and fourth industrial revolution (4IR) which operates on Cyberspace systems such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain technology, Internet of Things (IOTs), Agricultural Drones, among other technology solutions.

Technological innovations have, to a great extent shaped the agriculture sector throughout time. Examples of technological solutions in the 4IR era are: Bee vectoring technologies; precision agriculture; indoor vertical farming; livestock farming technology; laser scarecrows; farm automation; real-time kinematic (RTK) technology; mini-chromosome technology; farm management software; and water management technology. From the creation of the plough to global positioning system (GPS) driven precision farming equipment, humans have developed new ways of making farming more efficient and productive.

Society's Future
Of course, youths are the rationale behind the brain re-engineering concept and reimagination. However, this concept can also work in empowering women through the process of re-engineering of their mindset, ideologies and perception especially for communities where their traditional values are antithetical to women empowerment. Similarly, women play a significant role in agricultural production and household food security.

Despite the central role that the evolving agriculture sector has earmarked for the youth, the younger generations are reluctant to take up vocations in the sector due to various misconceptions associated with the industry, and a lack of information and awareness of opportunities. Deficiency associated with linkages between amplification created around the fourth industrial revolution and the agriculture sector has led to youths searching for professional career opportunities focusing on sectors that are non-agricultural.

Of course, youths are the rationale behind the brain re-engineering concept and reimagination
No doubts, the younger generation are regarded as society’s future. When the youth contributes his/her ideas and energy to resolve social issues, he/she becomes a capable leader and can also make a difference in people’s lives of others. Truly, the younger generation simply needs to renew, refresh and maintain the current status of society. They are expected to advance the current technology, education, politics, peace of the country. On the other hand, youths are vested with the energy and drive to maintain society’s culture and values thereby contributing to advancing developmental projects of nations.

For instance, the role of youths in elevating the agriculture sector as touching on higher crop productivity, decreased water, fertilizer and pesticides usage cannot be over emphasized. Youths’ role will definitely collapse food prices, as well as reduce its impact on natural ecosystems, less runoff of chemicals into rivers and groundwater.

That youth are on the front lines to build the food systems of the future in developing and developed nations of the world, while also bearing significant risks from climate change, social and economic inequities, and political marginalization cannot be over emphasized. Interestingly, the role of youths in agriculture can be felt in the usage of automated harvesters, drones, autonomous tractors, seeding and weeding implements to transform their culture of cultivating food crops (permanent or perennial or plantation crops; field crops and horticulture crops). Technology controls the menial and recurring tasks, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks.

Impacting Africa’s Younger Generation
Whether youngsters or youths of Africa will engage in farming depends on how productive and profitable farming is now and in the future. This depends on agricultural policies and programmes that will help youths in adopting new technology innovations and access productive resources including land, credits and markets. These opportunities would really drive young persons in seeking viable and attractive career options in the sector.

More importantly, the United Nations describes the youths and youngsters as persons who may fall the age category of 15 and 24 years between 35 and 40 percent. By 2030, it is prognosticate that the number of youths in Africa will have multiplied by 42%. As a matter of fact, Africa's population as a whole is very young, with 60% of the entire continent aged below 25 years, making it the youngest continent in the world, in relation to its population makeup. Youngster is a very adaptable word as it does not have a specific meaning as teenager or toddler. The word youth is a little more complex, as it can refer to a young person, and also to the period of life when one is young. All the same. the question of governments of Africa and other developing nations attracting youths to agriculture will go a longer to tackle the unemployment problem of creating jobs within the supply chains and value chains thereby leading to economic growth and development. Firstly, agriculture needed to be appealing to them which can be done by sharing the benefits of agriculture as a business, so as to enable them understand or change their ideologies that agriculture is no longer in the old economy when our parents and fore-parents practiced agriculture in the field under the sun with drudgery using crude implements. Truly, social media is a vehicle or tool that can rebrand agriculture factoring the blessings of the fourth industrial revolution such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Internet of things (IOTs), augmented realities, metaverse, among other technology solutions. Since agriculture is currently perceived by many youngsters and youths as unattractive probably due to an obvious outcome of decades of insufficient support from Africa’s government and other stakeholders of economic growth and development.

As a matter of fact, Africa's population as a whole is very young, with 60% of the entire continent aged below 25 years, making it the youngest continent in the world
For instance, the role of African youths in elevating her agriculture sector as touching on higher crop productivity, decreased water, fertilizer and pesticides usage cannot be over emphasized. Youths’ role will definitely collapse food prices, as well as reduce its impact on natural ecosystems, less runoff of chemicals into rivers and groundwater.

That youths of Africa are on the front lines to building the food systems of the future not just in Africa but for other developing and developed nations of the world, while also bearing significant risks from climate change, social and economic inequities, and political marginalization cannot be over emphasized. Recently, I was invited by a University College in London to share my success stories and experiences with the students of agriculture and agribusiness as that could motivate them to see beyond the silver lining of what agriculture can offer them in the new economy and in this era of 4IR even as they chart their course beyond the frontiers of the university and after graduation. Interestingly, the role of youths in agriculture can be felt in the usage of automated harvesters, drones, autonomous tractors, seeding and weeding implements to transform their culture of cultivating food crops (permanent or perennial or plantation crops; field crops and horticulture crops). Technology controls the menial and recurring tasks, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks.

Conceptualizing Brain Re-Engineering: Strategy for Rebranding Agriculture for the Youth
We must reckon that there are many trajectories to economic engagement for youths in agriculture, and not all of them means getting their hands dirty. Youths of Africa should be encouraged to engage in activities that support agricultural production, capacity building, goods and services, logistics and value addition as service providers and entrepreneurs in the agriculture or agribusiness space. To a large extent, youths of Africa should be enlisted in driving impact through the agriculture sector in a number of ways. Rebranding and repackaging of farming activities and agriculture operations in driving the required influence, is one of them. No doubts, youngsters and youths in Africa and other developing nations are increasingly becoming image conscious in this age and era of social media and instant gratification. Self-image has a strong currency and they are attracted to latest slangs and phrases, innovations and have a unique outlook that is all their own. Persistent images associated with agriculture ranging from low wages, and also boring and heavy manual work could grossly repel youths. As agriculture is being rebranded to fit this younger generation, we need to improve on the dialect around farming and agriculture, and replacing them with new ideologies and innovations in agriculture using images in editorials thereby leveraging on the existing role models who have proven testimonials of excellence in the agriculture space as that would potentially influence the youth.

In this era of fourth industrial revolution (4IR), engaging and embracing technology solutions can drive impact and scale. A good number of tools for digital operations in the agriculture sector can assist for weather information, crop production and market access thereby providing farmers with tools and information to create informed decisions and improve productivity.

Promoting farming as a business in Africa can attract youngsters to increase their participation in agribusiness. Business of agriculture is not only central to job creation and food security, but cumulatively impacts economic and social development outcomes. While the formal economy can only absorb less than 10 per cent of labour-market entrants, young entrepreneurs have a far less saturated market to venture into, through agribusiness. Now is the perfect time to attract the youth as attitudes and practices towards agribusiness are experience a paradigm shift due to job losses from the pandemic.

Tackling major issues that revolves around productivity and efficiency gaps in young people’s participation in value chains is a priority. Key bottlenecks such as inadequate access to information on production, inaccessibility to finance and market intelligence have to be addressed bearing youngsters in mind.

Value addition in food supply chains must be fostered as that would increase entrepreneur’s capacity on emerging agribusiness models such as circular economy principles and value addition opportunities, through the adoption of productive use of energy technologies.

Government should ensure that farm implements are made available to youngsters at subsidized rates. Farm machineries such as: ploughs, ridgers, tractors and cultivators should be sold at very affordable rates to encourage youth participation in agriculture.

Brain Re-Engineering Concept and Reimagination as Veritable Strategy for Youth Engagement
Generally, the youths and youngsters are fascinated by automation, and yearn to see a more-scientific and technologically-driven agriculture and that specifically factors in the use of robots, drones, and autonomous tractors to make farming more efficient. Precision agriculture is not left out in the brain re-engineering concept and reimagination which involves applying irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides at variable rates, depending on crop needs, rather than uniformly applying them at set times, quantities and frequencies.

Conversely, major technologies that are most commonly being utilized by farms are  harvest automation, autonomous tractors, seeding and weeding, and drones. Farm automation technology addresses major issues like a rising global population, farm labor shortages, and changing consumer preferences.

Youth engagement in agriculture is essential and critical for growth and to strengthen local food systems, feeding communities and providing gainful employment opportunities for the world's booming youth population. The role of youths in digital agriculture is streamlined in such a way that automated workflows have become invaluable for teams in the agriculture industry.

Specifically, the more Africa’s youths and youngsters are in the agriculture space in the 4IR era, the more her potential to increase and drive efficiency, improve quality and lower costs is assured. However, some of the demerits to technology usage in the agriculture sector are negligible as that would create more work for the agripreneur or young farmer and can reduce the personal contact farmers have to their farmlands.

The more Africa’s youths and youngsters are in the agriculture space in the 4IR era, the more her potential to increase and drive efficiency, improve quality and lower costs is assured
Indeed, the brain re-engineering concept and reimagining of what the agriculture sector and its enterprise activities stands to offer which hinges on unveiling the technology new dimensions can allow farmers to better engage in effective monitoring of the health of their livestock and crops, better documentation, more informed decisions, as well as in saving time and money.

Changing the Narrative with Entrepreneurship and Technology in Agriculture
Findings from studies carried-out have indicated that one of the brilliant strategies for economic progress whether in developed or less developed economies as it helps in employment generation, and the most important mechanism and tool for it is entrepreneurship. The whole concept of innovation, imagination, creativity, risk-taking, inventiveness and creation of new jobs have subsisted in the past, as well as in recent times when entrepreneurship underscores the processes of speeding up the pace at which new businesses and ventures are generated.

With the new technological findings, agriculture and agribusiness are undergoing radical changes, innovation being the core around which farmers seek solutions to streamline their activities, increase their production by maximizing resources. The business process consists of any group of activities performed in order to produce a specific customer-oriented or market-specific result. The business environment is constantly changing and new techniques and methods for developing this process are required. In Romania, through the funds attracted by agricultural entrepreneurs, higher productivity and access to modern solutions for agriculture can be obtained, with a major role in increasing efficiency.
One of the biggest advantages of getting started with entrepreneurship at a young age is the opportunity to learn important skills such as teamwork, networking, problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation and self-discipline
An information system created in support of agribusiness companies offers farmers the opportunity to reduce raw material costs, to optimize their production flow, this being possible by applying better technologies, based on information taken directly from the field, or the production area. Each IT solution is based on microservices, on the breakdown of agricultural processes into activities and sub-activities. In this way, we are talking about the overall efficiency of production.

Conclusion
Brain re-engineering concept and reimagination is a strategy enhancing youth engagement especially in the agriculture space as that would enhance the entrepreneurship and creativity capacity, as well as drive their innovativeness. Entrepreneurship in agriculture is a transformative option to unlock income generation through the agriculture sector since it will create jobs and multiple sources of income. Truly, youth agripreneurship creates decent work for young people, strengthens communities and drives inclusive economic growth, but for too many young people, entrepreneurship is out of reach. One of the biggest advantages of getting started with entrepreneurship at a young age is the opportunity to learn important skills such as teamwork, networking, problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation and self-discipline. All these skills can help in school performance and later in life. We must not forget that entrepreneurs in the agriculture industry are important to market economies, because they can act as the wheels of the economic growth of the country. By creating new products and services, the youths of Africa can stimulate new employment, which will ultimately result in the acceleration of economic development.

Dr. Ikechi Agbugba is the advocator of the Brain Re-Engineering Concept and Reimagination. His mother always sent him to their home garden and micro poultry farm to manage the crops (cassava, maize, okra, fluted pumpkin or ugu, waterleaf, bitter leaf, among other horticulture crops) and that of course that was one of the greatest moves that influenced his interest and decision in charting a course and career in economics of agriculture. Taking a trip down the memory lane, he recalls being the only student in his graduating set (secondary school) that applied for the programme. "In those days", he says, "I could tell that my sojourn in this space sounded uncanny or weird and I still have a vivid memory about this and how youngsters and youths of our countries nurse a negative feeling or disinterested attitude about pursuing a career in that space probably due to the deep-seated cultural issues. They still believe that venturing in this space will make them poor and unfulfilled by the end of the day. Interestingly, the hostile call of Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine War and other disasters which are looming is a double edged sword with agriculture/agribusinesses having either a direct or indirect effect on food supply chains, as well as impact on food value chains. This underscores the need for a veritable educational strategy that can re-engineer the brains of youngsters and the youth to reimagine agriculture as a business in an advent of technology."