BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – The recently announced Youth in Agriculture Indaba is set to inspire and motivate every young person in the country to take up agri- business and
The Ministry of Agriculture together with multi-stakeholders will host the Indaba to empower youth agri-preneurs.
The event will be held at Esibayeni Lodge on June 22 to 23, 2023 under the theme ‘Empowering the next generation of agri-champions through innovation and technology systems’.
Some of the stakeholders involved include the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center For Financial Inclusion.
Interested agri-preneurs can register with the following organisations: National Marketing and Agricultural Board (NAMBoard), Eswatini National Agricultural Union (ESNAU), Woman Farmer Foundation, Rural Development Areas (RDAs), Children and Youth Development Programme (CYDP), Eswatini National Youth Council (ESNYC), spared for a bit as most emaSwati lived in the rural areas where subsistence farming was widely practised.
The event aims to motivate and inspire young people to contribute to achieving food security for Eswatini.
Statistics show that the country still imports large numbers of food from other countries. An initiative like this will see the country’s youth equipped with skills on how to produce sufficient food for the nation.
Youth up to the age of 35 who are involved or have a strong interest in agriculture can expect opportunities touching on a number of aspects of their businesses including awareness of the different value chains in agriculture.
These are the integrated range of goods and services necessary for an agricultural product to move from the producer to the final consumer.
There is a growing need for young people to help inform policy-making in government. Through this event, young agri-preneurs will give input to inform these policies concerning agriculture in the urban areas and have a backup system in their homes in the rural areas.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF) Mandla Nkambule said they were looking forward to the event as it would be an empowerment opportunity for young agriculture entrepreneurs.
“With the advent of climate change, farmers need specialised equipment such as tunnels to grow their produce,” he said. Nkambule further mentioned that there was a dire need for young people in agriculture in the country as the agriculture field was mostly populated by older farmers with an average age of 62 years.
