The Sunday Mail
Cde Jason Zhuwao
The effects of climate change on agriculture have necessitated the need for innovative solutions to maximise farming production. Fresh ideas are needed to compliment Government’s efforts and this can be accomplished through a Youth Desk at the Agriculture Ministry.
I would like to share some thoughts on launching National Youth Desks in the ministries of Agriculture and Climate as advised by Zanu-PF’s Youth League at the December 2015 ruling party Annual National People’s Conference.
The youth have skills which can be directed to farming.
However, for young people to take to agriculture, farming must be both intellectually satisfying and economically rewarding.
This will call for a technological and managerial upgrade of farm operations.
We have to harness the best in frontier science and marry it with the best in traditional knowledge and ecological prudence.
Such a blend leads to the science of eco-technology.
In addition to eco-technology, we as well urge our Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Minister Prof Jonathan Moyo to ensure that universities develop excellence in biotechnology, space technology, nuclear technology, nanotechnology, renewable energy and management technology.
On the same note, his Primary and Secondary Education counterpart Dr Lazarus Dokora must ensure such training is introduced at an early age.
Zimbabwe is fortunate to have over half of its total population of 13 million under the age of 30. Out of the two million young persons, over 60 percent live in villages.
Instead of encouraging these youths to join the urban rat race, let’s learn from India where Mahatma Gandhi considered the reversal of migration of educated youth from villages to towns and cities as the most serious form of brain drain affecting rural development.
We should take steps to end the divorce between intellect and labour in rural areas.
The National Agricultural Policy should include the goal “to introduce measures which can help to attract and retain youth in farming and processing of farm products for higher value addition, by making farming intellectually stimulating and economically rewarding”.
Persuading educated youth, particularly graduates in agricultural studies, will require a three-pronged strategy.
This strategy will encompass appropriate land use policies, technologies and market linkages; and develop for this purpose a “4C approach”, that is, conservation, cultivation, consumption and commerce.
Furthermore we must enlarge the scope for the growth of agro-processing, agro industries and agribusiness and establish a “farm-to-home” chain in production, processing and marketing.
Under Youth Minister Patrick Zhuwao, there have been some inroads in some provinces.
Through the Youth Desk, the Agriculture Ministry should launch a programme to enable farm graduates to start agri-clinics and agri-business centres.
This will create opportunities for the services sector to expand in a manner that triggers technological and economic upgrading of farm operations.
Cde Nickros Kajengo has already made commendable progress in this regard.
Ideally, a group of four to five farm graduates, who have specialised in agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, agri-business and home science, could jointly launch an agri-clinic-cum-agri-business centre in every district.
Agri-clinics will provide the services needed during the production phase of farming, while the agri-business centre will cater for the needs of families in the post-harvest phase.
The group can assist families achieve economies of scale, both during the production and post-harvest phases.
Such an integrated unit can be called an “Agricultural Transformation Centre”.
Opportunities for young entrepreneurs abound.
Climate resilient agriculture is another area that needs attention. In dry farming areas, methods of rainwater harvesting and storage, aquifer recharge and watershed management as well as improvement of soil physics, chemistry and microbiology, need to be spread widely.
The cultivation of fertiliser trees which can enrich soil fertility and help to improve soil carbon sequestration and storage can be promoted under the Green Zimbabwe Mission operating under the Youth Desk.
Ironically, the Agriculture Ministry is busy promoting importation of fertilisers and other chemicals instead of coming up with organic farming and technology concepts.
We need laws in agriculture promoting organic farming. It’s a challenge to research in which the youth can assist.
Similar opportunities exist in the fields of animal husbandry.
Improved technologies of small-scale poultry and dairy farming can be introduced.
Codex alimentarius standards of food safety can be popularised in the case of perishable commodities.
For this purpose, young farmers should establish Gyan Chaupals or Village Knowledge Centres.
Such centres will be based on the integrated use of the Internet, social media, FM radio and mobile phones.
Similarly, young educated youth could help rural communities organise gene-seed-grain-water banks, thereby linking conservation, cultivation, consumption and commerce in a mutually reinforcing manner.
Hence we call for the urgent establishment of a Youth Desk in the ministries responsible.
This is guided by Zim-Asset and the 10-Point Economic Plan.
◆ Cde Zhuwao is the chairman of the Zanu-PF Harare Central District Youth League and CEO of Team Zanu-PF Live, the ruling party’s organ for mass dissemination of information research, mobilisation, networking live updating of current affairs and E-Media campaigning. He can be contacted at Facebook.com @cdejasonZhuwao
