Let’s make farming attractive to the youths
Farmer’s Diary with
Sheuneni Kurasha
17 March 2019
17 March 2019
I welcome you dear reader to this
inaugural instalment of our weekly column, Farmer’s
Diary. We will be exploring all things farming. The purpose is to share
knowledge and exchange experiences on farming and help each other to be more
efficient and productive farmers. After all, “kugara nhaka kuona dzevamwe” (we become better by observing how
others do things).
When I decided to go into commercial
farming as a young professional, seven years back, I did not just have the task
of convincing my spouse that I was going into a noble business. I equally had
to face a barrage of questions from many of my friends and colleagues who were
sceptical if I had made the right decision to consider farming as a business.
Seven years on, my wife has not only supported me but has also joined in and
brought in new perspectives inspired by her engineering background. This is a
story for another day.
It occurred to me that farming was not
so “cool” for may my friends in the late twenties and early forties. I vividly
recall one friend quipping that, “We are really getting old, even one of us is
now a farmer.”
It is not surprising that farming either
as a career option or business are neither popular options among the youth.
After all, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the global
average age of farmers is 60 years old. This means there are simply no enough
young successful farmers to look up to. Farming is typically viewed as a rural
venture for old people and one where people go into as a last resort and often on
a subsistence basis.
This brings me to my next point.
In the last seven years I have been
into commercial farming, specialising in pedigree livestock breeding,
particularly boran cattle, boer goats and damara sheep, I have witnessed a growing
interest among young people aged between 30 and 40 years in joining commercial
farming. I now spend hours on end responding to inquiries on our farming
Facebook Page, on how young people can break the barriers and go into farming.
We need to realise that if Zimbabwe is
ever to address the perennial food-related challenges such as food insecurity,
malnutrition, and increasing food prices, in a sustainable manner, there is
urgent need to make sure that more and more young people are incentivised to go
into farming and remain there.
In my view, the primary duty to ensure
that young people are attracted into farming lies with the Government. There
should be immediate and deliberate policy measures and specific programme interventions
aimed at making young people view farming as viable and a fashionable career and
business option. This is more imperative considering that Zimbabwe, just like
other African countries, has over 60 percent of its whole population below 24
years old.
In addition, families are also centres
of nurturing future farmers and luring them to take farming as a career and
business option from an early age. Hence the saying: farmers beget farmers.
One of the major impediments for young
people to go into commercial agriculture is cost of and thus access to farming land.
For Zimbabwe, the Land Reform Programme will have failed if it does not include
a deliberate policy to promote access to land by young people.
One of the ways in which Zimbabwe and
other African countries can harvest on the demographic dividend is through
attracting young people into farming and supporting them to become successful
farmers. After all, young people can easily harness technological advancements,
including social media tools to enhance their productivity and profitability.
Social media tools facilitate access to information and exchange information,
including experiences and existing opportunities.
As the president of the African
Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina observed, the next generation
of millionaires and billionaires in Africa will be farmers.
We need to get more young people into
farming.
For
feedback, kindly get in touch on email: kurashas@gmail.com
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