Engaging the youth in agriculture
By: Nghishidimbwa Rabban
Engaging the youth in agriculture has been a prominent topic recently and has risen on the development agenda, as there is growing concern worldwide that young people have become disenchanted with agriculture. With most young people living in rural settlements, where agriculture is likely to provide food and the main source of income, it is vital that young people are connected with farming and related activities.
Currently, around our country we're living in an era where rapid urbanisation has led to a decline in rural populations as the majority of young people prefer to live in urban areas. With this assumption, increasing concentrations of the global population in urban areas it is easier to understand why the number of young farmers is in decline. So how then do we develop the love for farming when the trend is to live in cities and towns?
For a country to be able to feed itself, agriculture needs to become a more attractive option for youth. Otherwise, the current trend of young people migrating out of rural agricultural areas and into cities in search of bigger, better jobs will leave the country with a shortage of farmers, and eventually food insecure. We will thus continue to rely on food imports, which will tie up monies that could have been used for other developmental projects.
Generally speaking, most of the schools in the country have a lack of facilities required for the proper training of learners on advanced farming methods and therefore the learners are not being encouraged to perceive agriculture as an attractive field like others. For a learner to develop interest and passion in agriculture, it should start from the very early stages in their life, specifically at the lower grades, because this where learners are built psychologically and mostly their choices and what they opt to be depends on their experience at these early stages. At this stage learners should be taught and be demonstrated on how to grow different high-value crops, rearing livestock and how to market their produce. It is also important that learners are well informed that agriculture is an applied science, as much as medicine and engineering and other similar fields. Indeed, career guidance that instills in the minds of people that various career options that exist in this sector is a must. This will later assist a lot of young people in terms of furthering studies in agricultural and related fields at tertiary level.
The agricultural sector contributes 27.4% to the employment rate in the country and also contributes 3.4% toward the Gross Domestic Products (GDP). However, despites such a high contribution of the sector to the economy, there are many challenges ahead that hinder its sustainability, but if young people are offered education in agriculture and engaged in innovative and modern agricultural approaches, then the agriculture sector can attract more youth which further could foster more growth. As we look to find solutions towards feeding a country of 2.459 million people it is this new generation that should be working together and can help to achieve our global development goals. Young people often see agriculture as a sector much neglected by the government, giving farming the image of being old fashioned. Investment in agriculture is more effective at reducing poverty than investment in any other sector but public expenditure on agriculture remains low.
I further believe that every young person in the country should have a background knowledge of agriculture despite pursuit of other careers namely, teaching, nursing, medical, engineering, etc. We all need knowledge and skills on how to produce food, having a backyard garden requires knowledge to manage it otherwise they won't be any production. As an example, young people who took agriculture as a career have a better understanding of inflation of the price of bread to N$10 as they would think of the cost of production and distribution which include (raw material, processing, storage and transportation).
There is also the fact that we need to add value to our farm produce. A simple act of washing the potatoes and packaging them adds much more value to a locally produced favorite food than simply harvesting them and exporting them raw. This value-addition requires skilled personnel such as food microbiologists and agricultural engineers which are in short supply currently, despite the university's best options. Recently in Namibia, crop farmers were invaded by an American bollworm worm which affected specifically maize and sweet potatoes. However, other countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe even though they were faced with the same pest challenge, they had better harvests because of their well-developed human capacity of skilled entomologists, who dealt with the situation faster and promptly. I am reliably informed that there is only one person with that qualification in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in Namibia and there is also a lack of geneticists, plant breeders, foresters, veterinarians, nutritionist, range scientists in the country, to state a few. This is more so because the youth are not heeding the call to study degrees and diplomas in agriculture and related fields, and mainly due to the bad perception or misconception about what agriculture careers are, and the importance and opportunities thereof.
*Nghishidimbwa Rabban is a third-year agriculture science student at Ogongo campus
Engaging the youth in agriculture has been a prominent topic recently and has risen on the development agenda, as there is growing concern worldwide that young people have become disenchanted with agriculture. With most young people living in rural settlements, where agriculture is likely to provide food and the main source of income, it is vital that young people are connected with farming and related activities.
Currently, around our country we're living in an era where rapid urbanisation has led to a decline in rural populations as the majority of young people prefer to live in urban areas. With this assumption, increasing concentrations of the global population in urban areas it is easier to understand why the number of young farmers is in decline. So how then do we develop the love for farming when the trend is to live in cities and towns?
For a country to be able to feed itself, agriculture needs to become a more attractive option for youth. Otherwise, the current trend of young people migrating out of rural agricultural areas and into cities in search of bigger, better jobs will leave the country with a shortage of farmers, and eventually food insecure. We will thus continue to rely on food imports, which will tie up monies that could have been used for other developmental projects.
Generally speaking, most of the schools in the country have a lack of facilities required for the proper training of learners on advanced farming methods and therefore the learners are not being encouraged to perceive agriculture as an attractive field like others. For a learner to develop interest and passion in agriculture, it should start from the very early stages in their life, specifically at the lower grades, because this where learners are built psychologically and mostly their choices and what they opt to be depends on their experience at these early stages. At this stage learners should be taught and be demonstrated on how to grow different high-value crops, rearing livestock and how to market their produce. It is also important that learners are well informed that agriculture is an applied science, as much as medicine and engineering and other similar fields. Indeed, career guidance that instills in the minds of people that various career options that exist in this sector is a must. This will later assist a lot of young people in terms of furthering studies in agricultural and related fields at tertiary level.
The agricultural sector contributes 27.4% to the employment rate in the country and also contributes 3.4% toward the Gross Domestic Products (GDP). However, despites such a high contribution of the sector to the economy, there are many challenges ahead that hinder its sustainability, but if young people are offered education in agriculture and engaged in innovative and modern agricultural approaches, then the agriculture sector can attract more youth which further could foster more growth. As we look to find solutions towards feeding a country of 2.459 million people it is this new generation that should be working together and can help to achieve our global development goals. Young people often see agriculture as a sector much neglected by the government, giving farming the image of being old fashioned. Investment in agriculture is more effective at reducing poverty than investment in any other sector but public expenditure on agriculture remains low.
I further believe that every young person in the country should have a background knowledge of agriculture despite pursuit of other careers namely, teaching, nursing, medical, engineering, etc. We all need knowledge and skills on how to produce food, having a backyard garden requires knowledge to manage it otherwise they won't be any production. As an example, young people who took agriculture as a career have a better understanding of inflation of the price of bread to N$10 as they would think of the cost of production and distribution which include (raw material, processing, storage and transportation).
There is also the fact that we need to add value to our farm produce. A simple act of washing the potatoes and packaging them adds much more value to a locally produced favorite food than simply harvesting them and exporting them raw. This value-addition requires skilled personnel such as food microbiologists and agricultural engineers which are in short supply currently, despite the university's best options. Recently in Namibia, crop farmers were invaded by an American bollworm worm which affected specifically maize and sweet potatoes. However, other countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe even though they were faced with the same pest challenge, they had better harvests because of their well-developed human capacity of skilled entomologists, who dealt with the situation faster and promptly. I am reliably informed that there is only one person with that qualification in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in Namibia and there is also a lack of geneticists, plant breeders, foresters, veterinarians, nutritionist, range scientists in the country, to state a few. This is more so because the youth are not heeding the call to study degrees and diplomas in agriculture and related fields, and mainly due to the bad perception or misconception about what agriculture careers are, and the importance and opportunities thereof.
*Nghishidimbwa Rabban is a third-year agriculture science student at Ogongo campus
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article