Youths shunning participation in agriculture
The perceived lack of modernity in the agriculture sector by many youths in the country has been identified as one of the reasons youths are not participating in agriculture activities.
Executive Director for the Farmers Forum for Trade and Social Justice (Fafortaj) Calvin Kamchacha, said this in Lilongwe on Thursday during the launch of their new project Strengthening Youth Employment Opportunities in ICT and Agriculture in Southern Africa (Sofia).
The three year project aims at strengthening rural youth employment opportunities in agriculture and ICTs in Southern Africa and in Malawi in particular and it is also being implemented in Zambia and Swaziland.
Kamchacha said even though Agriculture is Malawi’s engine for economic growth and has the potential to offer more opportunities in the value added chains, main youths are shunning the sector in the country.
“The continued use of high energy consuming agriculture equipment such as hoes as opposed to tractors, watering canes for irrigation instead of water pumps are some of the practices that keeps the youth from participating in Agriculture,” he said.
He said the incorporation of ICTs in agribusiness has proved to be an effective tool in stimulating young people’s interest in agriculture as it offers new marketing tools to enhance youth-led agriculture businesses.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Joster Njanji ,said the initiative taken by Fafortaj is quite commendable as it is in line with the mandate and the programmes under the his ministry and it is ready to develop the potential in young people in the country.
“The ministry is ready to provide the necessary technical support in areas of youth development as we have created a conducive environment to enable young people to actively participate in development activities that will uplift their lives in a productive and constructive manner,” said Njanji.
He said the youths who represent the largest proportion of the Malawi population possess a human resource potential that can bring meaningful development to the country’s economy if their opportunities are promoted and adequately resourced.
Board chairperson for Fafotraj Francis Chinjoka Gondwe said the potential of ICT in agriculture has been acknowledged in the National ICT Policy which calls upon government to and development partners to support the provision of ICT capacity to young farmers and take into account their needs in ICT policy making.
