When I was a child growing up in Zimbabwe, my grandmother used to go to the same one-acre plot of land each day and work long and exhausting hours.

When I asked her why she put herself through this, she replied: “This is how I wake up every day, this is how I survive.”

I am now in my twenties and my grandmother is still out there on her plot each day.

She continues to till her field with a hand hoe, using seed saved from previous harvests, and applying a teaspoonful of fertiliser per maize plant. Her working hours and type of inputs have remained the same over the years; however, the yields have been declining drastically.

Concerns of a generation

This week, the One Young World conference is being held in London.

Sithembile Ndema helps farmers create climate resilient farming methods Young people from around the world have met to discuss the biggest challenges facing the planet, with the guidance of eminent figures such as Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and Alejandro Toledo, the former president of Peru.

There are 700 of us who have gathered from 192 different countries, all with different beliefs, interests and goals. But we are united by a common passion to voice the concerns of our generation.

Political instability, global poverty and health, the financial crisis, religious conflicts and climate change are all issues that affect us and require long-term solutions to address substantially.

This conference offers my generation a chance to seek solutions to questions which elders such as my grandmother might not even realise are facing the world.

Like my grandmother, two-thirds of Africans rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and 80 per cent of these are women.

This is why I am so concerned with African agriculture and its role in driving broader economic development throughout the continent.