Making agriculture lucrative to the youth

The agricultural sector in the country has over the years had an image problem as majority of the youth see it as not attractive or lucrative. Most of them think of it only as backbreaking labour, without any economic success and little or no room for career advancement.

With an ageing population of farmers (55-60 years), it is clear that agriculture needs to attract more young people to sustain agricultural production. However, the youth are going into businesses that give instant returns. There is no gainsaying the fact that mining and other related jobs have been populated with young people.

The government’s commitment to changing the negative perception the youth have about people in agriculture as uneducated, unskilled, physical labourers with extremely low economic return business, has provided career opportunities in research, environment, financial management, engineering and other technical areas for the youth to explore.

The introduction of the Youth in Agriculture Programme (YIAP) is a necessary and vital policy to facilitate food and nutrition security, especially postharvest losses that have long been a challenge in the agricultural sector.

Thanks to the government for introducing the one-district, onewarehouse and one-district, one-factory projects. These initiatives will go a long way to preserve and convert some of our perishable commodities into other non-perishable products.

This will also enhance all year round food supply since the nation’s food basket will no longer depend on seasons to be filled.

The youth will turn to agriculture as a viable career path should all these policies work towards greater achievements.

Technology

What is needed most now is to shift from the former ways of faming where farmers had to walk long distances for water for irrigation, dry crops on rooftops, tilt lands with manpower or animal labour and others.

It is about time robotics were introduced in our farming and food production systems.

Introduction of simple automated machines such as the drip irrigation system, the ram pump, water roller and sheller will substitute the monotonous hand labour of physical tasks which have long been seen as punishment.

They are simple technologies that comprise the combination of household materials to form simple machines. They work efficiently and save time and other costs involved in having to hire people to undertake certain tasks. Family size farming will be encouraged through these technologies.

These simple technologies have helped solve food insecurity problems in some developing countries such as Lesotho and Mauritius. Locally, these problems could be solved by improving family incomes in both food and money by encouraging subsistence agriculture aided by simple technological methods.

Education

Increased access to education and new forms of agriculture-based enterprises that have promising returns will make the youth a vital force for innovation in family farming, increasing incomes and wellbeing for both farmers and local communities.

Understanding the genetics of seeds in relation to environmental and climate change, evaluation of best fertilisers, selecting the right combination of pesticides and understanding the day-to-day logistics of farm operation will help the youth adopt effective ways to increase production.

Also, education will help the youth to understand the modern Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices by intelligently choosing pest control measures and appropriate pesticides.

The control decisions will require seasonal observations on the presence and movement of pests along with models predicting their future development.

Furthermore, farmers, businesses, policy makers and educators have to promote agriculture as a motivating and economically sustainable career by creating other job opportunities apart from farming for the youth in the country.

Opportunities such as permaculture design, biodynamic farming, communication technologies, forecasting, marketing, logistics, quality assurance, urban agriculture projects, food preparation, post-harvest technology and environmental sciences will help a lot of the youth to be attracted to the sector. — GB