Posted on August, 30, 2018 at 10:19 am
THE East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have joined hands to support the creation of better opportunity for youth in agriculture sector in order to address youth unemployment.
This was revealed yesterday in Dar es Salaam during the two-day regional validation workshop on best youth agribusiness models for EAC partner states.
“Engaging the youth across the agri-food chain is increasingly seen as a potential solution to youth unemployment, food insecurity, rural poverty and distress migration for EAC” EAC deputy secretary general, Christophe Bazivamo said in his remarks during the workshop.
According to data from the EAC and FAO, youth represent 48 million of the total population of the EAC partner states whereas in the next 20 years; the number is expected to grow to 82 million.
“If properly harnessed, youth have the potential to boost productivity and strengthen inclusive economic growth,” he noted.
The deputy SG explained that, most of the youth think that better life does not come out of agriculture, urging them to change their mindset and appreciate what they own.
He added that in order to encourage more youth to involve in the sector, among other tactics is they bring the successfully youth stories who have achieved a lot through agriculture so that others can learn from them.
Mohamed Aw-Dahir, senior officer (programme and partnership) sub regional office for Eastern Africa (SFE) said that FAO is committed to support EAC member states to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and to support youth in agriculture to make sure no one is left behind.
Aw-Dahir added that such efforts will enable youth not to engage in insecurity issues but will participate in economic growth through agriculture.
In his key note address, East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Mathias Kasamba said the region should take the advantage of young people because they are very useful in production.
However, EAC and FAO have identified and documented best practice and youth agro business models across EAC partners which will be presented and validated at the regional partnership workshop.
According to EAC and FAO, the outcome of the workshop informs national and regional policy processes on how best youth unemployment can be addressed through job creation in agriculture and agribusiness so as to promote decent rural employment in the agricultural sector in the EAC partner states.
Source: IPP Media