Mechanisation key to youth participation in agriculture
National Youth Council of Malawi (Nycom) says agricultural mechanisation is key towards enticing the youth to consider participating in agriculture as a lucrative business.
Nycom chief executive officer Dingiswayo Jere said this on Thursday in Lilongwe during the commemoration of the International Youth Day under the theme Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health.
He admitted that currently, a majority of young people do not take up agriculture as business because the farming environment is not youth friendly as it is characterised by hard labour.
Said Jere: “We have to make sure that agriculture is inviting and exciting for young people. Young people are involved in information and communications technology with a lot of innovative ideas.
“It is high time that authorities needed to modenise agriculture in terms of marketing, value chains and all practical work on the group using mechanical and new systems.”
On his part, Ministry of Agriculture director of planning Rodwell Mzonde said the Agriculture Policy encompasses the youth on the need to provide capital to them.
He said in Malawi, agriculture is largely taken as subsistence, but government is working on commercialising it to make it attractive.
One of the youth, Clara Kamlomo, who is also proprietor of Amazing Bee Project, said young people need technological equipment for value-addition and mechanised farming.
