Written by Young Farmers’ Clubs Zimbabwe
The final installation in the Agripreneurship Summit series.
The summit was attended by many officials including the ZFU President, Director of Economics and Markets within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development as well as the Senior Director of Youth Development for the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment.
Address: ZFU President, Mr Silas Hungwe
The presentation by the ZFU President Mr Silas Hungwe was premised on the need to tap into the immense potential that youths present to grow the agriculture sector.
He pointed out that,
Youths possess the energy and requisite technical skills to positively impact on the sector
Going forward, he suggested that the Summit should present youths with the opportunity to share their diverse experiences whilst drawing lessons from key stakeholders in the sector.
The ZFU, he said, has embarked on various activities and projects that are meant to actively involve youths and young people in the farming sector. He emphasised that there was need to encourage young people to pursue agriculture as any other rewarding career path.
Address: Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development
The Director of Economics and Markets within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Mr Bwenje indicated that in order to achieve a prosperous, diverse and competitive agricultural sector, that ensures food and nutrition security of the nation, there is need to promote participation and involvement of youth throughout the agriculture value chain. Government, on the other hand remains open to innovative ways of involving the youth in the mainstream economic activity. This is critical in that Sub-Saharan Africa holds the world’s largest youngest population of over 200 million young people of which 70% reside in rural areas. Sub Saharan Africa also employs about 65% of the youth primarily in the agricultural sector as workforce. On average 74% of the youth population in Africa lives on less than US$2.00 per day. Therefore, youths are crucial to the development of Africa and to the efforts of ensuring food security.
Address: Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment
The Ministry of Youth was represented by a senior Director of Youth Development, Mr Fungati. He welcomed the initiative by ZFU mentioning it arrives at a critical time when government has committed to support youth in all possible manners. Mention was made of some of the programmes the Ministry has designed for youth which include the community share ownership schemes, ZIM ASSET and Kurera Ukondla Youth Fund which were established to support innovative ideas of youth with start-up capital. Regardless of the programmes set up under the Ministry, the Director mentioned they are supportive of all organisations with youth centred initiatives.
Young Farmers' Clubs (Zimbabwe) 