On behalf of the Mexican Family Farming Network, I want to share some challenges we face when thinking in policies for youth.
1.- Discrimination: rural youth in mexico suffer discrimination from two sides. First, because rurality is associated with poverty, iliteracy and low-class. Second, because inside the communities being young is associated with inexperience or lazyness and as a consequence the decision about farms is taken by the olders.
2.- Migration: young people in rural areas in Mexico, usually face two options once they became independent. To stay in the farm or to migrate to USA or to urban areas as Mexico City. Even if they are going to develop low-paid jobs, they usually choose to migrate because the idea of progress is related with urbanity. Also, because if they remain in the field they are never going to be able to obtain things such as: cars, clothes, drinks, or vacations, which are the things the actual economic model promotes.
3.- In order to create better policies for youth, we need to think as youth. The farm should be an option and not a condemn. We need to develop programs that address at the same time: agro-ecological trainning, value-added product processing, and businness trainning.
4.-Arround the world the movement for organic food and local market is growing. We need to create programs to bring together youth consumers and youth producers. Most youth consumers from urban areas are now more conscious about the ingredients of the food and they look for more natural options. They are more sustainable consumers, and they are engaged with solidarity projects.
5.- What we are missing, from our point of view, is an strategy to communicate both worlds (commercialization, online markets, local transactions), because right now, at least in Mexico the organic market is monopolized by luxury restaurants or shops. If you want to consume organic you need to be rich, and the producer is not obtaining the benefits of those transactions.
Send you attached, the proposal of the mexican family farming network to create a national program on family farming in our country.
Dear collegues,
On behalf of the Mexican Family Farming Network, I want to share some challenges we face when thinking in policies for youth.
1.- Discrimination: rural youth in mexico suffer discrimination from two sides. First, because rurality is associated with poverty, iliteracy and low-class. Second, because inside the communities being young is associated with inexperience or lazyness and as a consequence the decision about farms is taken by the olders.
2.- Migration: young people in rural areas in Mexico, usually face two options once they became independent. To stay in the farm or to migrate to USA or to urban areas as Mexico City. Even if they are going to develop low-paid jobs, they usually choose to migrate because the idea of progress is related with urbanity. Also, because if they remain in the field they are never going to be able to obtain things such as: cars, clothes, drinks, or vacations, which are the things the actual economic model promotes.
3.- In order to create better policies for youth, we need to think as youth. The farm should be an option and not a condemn. We need to develop programs that address at the same time: agro-ecological trainning, value-added product processing, and businness trainning.
4.-Arround the world the movement for organic food and local market is growing. We need to create programs to bring together youth consumers and youth producers. Most youth consumers from urban areas are now more conscious about the ingredients of the food and they look for more natural options. They are more sustainable consumers, and they are engaged with solidarity projects.
5.- What we are missing, from our point of view, is an strategy to communicate both worlds (commercialization, online markets, local transactions), because right now, at least in Mexico the organic market is monopolized by luxury restaurants or shops. If you want to consume organic you need to be rich, and the producer is not obtaining the benefits of those transactions.
Send you attached, the proposal of the mexican family farming network to create a national program on family farming in our country.
Thank you,
Best,
Yunuel Cruz
http://aiaf2014mexico.blogspot.mx/