The ‘youth in agriculture problem’ makes up part of a growing set of ‘youth in development’ issues occupying the minds of aid practitioners and bilateral and multilateral donors. Aid agendas seek to enhance youth participation in policy processes and mainstream youth‐related goals on health, education, employment and governance into development policies. Yet, these agendas routinely ignore national youth policies (NYPs), which in many African countries have been in place for well over a decade. This article demonstrates how NYPs in Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia express distinct policy visions, identifications and imaginations of the youth ‘ problematique ’, and particular philosophies of intervention. It argues that while their substantive content may well be subject to dialogue and reform, NYPs also express conceptualisations of the policy process and roles for knowledge, evidence and collective action that sit uneasily with new donor agendas, and are less amenable to change.