This research aims to understand the skills needed to promote employability among the unemployed youth in South Africa, with a focus on unemployed graduates. Specifically, the study investigated the skills to develop IoT capabilities for contributions to smart agriculture and how to equip the unemployed youth with those skills. The study systematically reviewed academic literature and used a thematic analysis approach. The skills needed to develop IoT education around smart agriculture were identified as computer/IoT technical skills, soft skills, digital literacy skills, entrepreneurship skills, career development skills and green practice skills. Skills expected for unemployed graduates based on previous learning included communication, problem-solving, technological, teamwork, interpersonal, creative thinking, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The findings of this study were synthesised into a framework which considers the pathways to learning these skills, roles of the public and private sector and the employability of youth in the smart agriculture sector thereafter. The framework can be used by scholars, practitioners and policy makers in South Africa. It could also be adjusted to an Indian context by considering both the similarities and differences between the countries.