Employ youths, save agriculture: CFU
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
12.12.12
by Edgar Gweshe
The government needs to put measures in place to ensure youth participation
in agriculture as a way of guaranteeing the future of the sector, the
President of the Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union, Charles Taffs, said.
The involvement of young people in farming activities remains low. Taffs
made the remarks during an exclusive interview with The Zimbabwean.
“One big problem we have is that the youths are not getting involved in
agriculture. If young people don’t get involved in agriculture, in 10 years
time, who is going to feed this country?” said Taffs.
Taffs implored the government to implement policies to guarantee security of
tenure on agricultural land as a way of boosting confidence among
stakeholders in the sector.
“There needs to be a policy shift and if there is a policy shift, the youths
will actually turn to that as a career choice,” said Taffs.
Taffs expressed concern over the state of preparations for this year’s
agricultural season and said the country was heading for “disaster”.
The spokesperson of youth empowerment group, Upfumi Kuvadiki, Alson Darikayi
said youths should be supported through government policies to take centre
stage in the agricultural sector.
“At present, youth involvement in agriculture is minimal. Deliberate
strategies need to be put in place to ensure the youths get involved. Even
under the Land Reform programme, very few youths benefited and this
minimizes our participation in the agricultural sector,” said Darikayi.