SACAU calls for youth involvement in agriculture transformation in Africa

DOREEN NAWA, JOHANESBURG

CLAIMS are made that Africa's farmers are getting older.

The blame is put on young people's decreasing interest in farm work, lack of skills and access to resources, but the trend is changing.

This is evidenced from the number of young farmers attending the 2014 Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) African Forum on Family Farming in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Young farmers from Madagscar, Mauritius, Malawi, Swaziland and Lesotho are attending the three day forum.

And Southern African Confederation of African Unions (SACAU) president Theo de Jager says time is for young farmers voices to be heard and  showcase their innovative solutions to increasing agricultural productivity in Africa, taking into account factors like climate change, agricultural investment, access to credit, trade and market niches.

“SACAU is honoured to be the a co-host of the 2014 CAADP Africa Forum which is connected to the 2014 UN International Year of Family and the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security. This is a strong and necessary signal that the international community recognizes the important contribution of family farmers to world food security. The role of young farmers on the continent will be critical in achieving these goals,”  Dr de Jager said.

Dr de Jager said there is need to advocate for the involvement of young farmers in agriculture in Africa.

“Once the profession of agriculture has been elevated to the status and level it deserves, will also attract young people (including women) new energetic entrants capable of understanding the complexities of future food consumers. We are at the right place, at the right time – this is the world’s paradise when it comes to land and climate for agricultural production – but the questions remains – how soon can we do the right things for the prosperity of the sector, its people and Africa,” he said.

A young farmer from Balaka in Malawi, Bertina Spriano says farming is a business which can transform the lives of people on the continent.

“I am small holder farmer aged 34 but if I look back from the years I was not in farming, I truly regret, I would not have been where I am today. Form the time I started farming, I have not known poverty in my family,” says Ms Spriano.

According to Ms Spriano says in the past decade, young farmers were nowhere nearer for their voices to be heard across the continent but now the situation is changing.

“Governments have been channeling more resources into agriculture, pursuing the African Union’s goal of increasing public investment in agriculture to 10 per cent of national budgets per year. And as youths this is our time to associate ourselves with this sector,” she said.

In many areas, partnerships in agriculture are improving access to higher yielding seeds and fertilizers, improving soil fertility, strengthening technical training and boosting access to credit.

While agriculture and smallholder farmers in many African countries form the bedrock of the economy, the youth hold the keys to the continent's future.

Throughout the continent, young farmers playing a crucial role in the continent's economic growth by actively involving themselves into agriculture.

Another young farmer from Uganda, Elizabeth Nsimadala says while young people are a huge potential resource, many are migrating to cities in search of opportunities, leaving behind an increasingly ageing population.

“It is vital and ultimately beneficial for everyone to turn this trend around. Reality will quickly dim the bright lights of the city for this generation. But if young people stay on the farm, these upcoming smallholder farmers will be in the forefront of innovative, knowledge-intensive agriculture. Substantial and sustained investments focused on young farmers are essential to harness their energies and ambitions,” says Ms Nsimadala.

Clearly, it is time to look at poor smallholder farmers in a completely new way – not as charity cases but as people whose innovation, dynamism and hard work will bring prosperity to their communities and greater food security to the world in the decades ahead.

While Africa continues to face enormous challenges in reducing rural poverty, a vision of economic renaissance led by young smallholder farmers is beginning to take hold.

There is growing belief that Africa can produce enough not only to feed its own citizens but to export a growing surplus.
Africa can make a real contribution to ensuring food security for the world while also growing its economy and pulling its citizens out of poverty.