Dear Team,
Many thanks for this important subject.
Indeed, it is a misconception that youth have little love for Agriculture. The truth, the odds don’t support their thriving in Agriculture. Worldwide, it is a known fact that Agriculture is capital intensive - which capital, youths can’t easily access given that for most economies particularly in developing nations, Agriculture loans are not offered citing the high risky nature of farming. To your surprise, even insurance agencies are reluctant to take on Agriculture investments saying there are too risky for their risk-related interventions. This leaves farmers especially youths who are resource constraints at crossroads.
Secondly, Agriculture is driven, regulated and grown by markets. For the sake of developing countries, youths are reluctant to engage in agriculture because the market thereof is rather distorted - its a market that consumes whatever is dropped on it irrespective of the quality. There is no price incentive for quality yet youths will always what to engage where there is a premium for quality so they can put their innovative ingenuity to use - with certainty of the associated financial rewards.
Thirdly, our governments keep singing the song of how important Agriculture is to our economies, however, this emphasis is not reflected in national curriculum and budgets - thus development programmes. This where the youth would have been easily recruited into Agriculture with minimal effort.
In summary, the above challenges have not only limited youth recruitment, retention and engagement in Agriculture but also greatly deterred their interest in same.
Thanks Team,
Kenneth Senkosi
Officer Agriculture
Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda
Kenneth Senkosi