Artifacts about the

attitude from the youth

towards Agriculture
There are positive and
negative outlooks from
the youth regarding
Agriculture. The
problems face in
agriculture are the coping
with climate change, soil
erosion, biodiversity loss,
satisfying consumer’s
changing tastes and
expectations, meet rising
demand for more food of
higher quality, investing
in farm productivity,
adopting and learning
about new technologies,
staying resilient against
global economic factors,
high cost of inputs,
available markets,
inspiring young people to
stay in rural areas and
become future farmers.
By being a farmer you are
addressing the problem of
food security, you are
contributing to decline the
imputation build. You are
providing affordable food
so that all can eat and you
are creating employment.
Even though there are a
lot of problems faced in
agriculture and
agriculture may not be
interested to a lot of
people there are a lot
songs, poems, articles
people have made to
showcase the positive
impact of agriculture and
the way it changes lives.
Written by Chinedum
Ekwobi is a poem by the
name of “find more farm
implements”, it goes like
“My muscles are
dying for a cutlass,
My strength enough
to not seek a lass
My nostrils fish out
odorless fertilizers;
The sparks in my
eyes Advertisers I
shouldn’t ears
supply with any
story, Now, I could
from Ants snatch
their Glory …
Through and
through An
Agricultural Mind To
more farm
implements find; A
new day might start
ageing like my
father As time
further does its race
farther.” Made by
youth power 2 on
chrome is an article
called youth
engagement in
agriculture, it is
“Young men and women
are engaged in the agri-
food system in a variety
of ways — through
formal and informal wage
work, unpaid family
labor, self-employment,
and cooperative
membership — and
across all levels of the
value chain. Overall,
youth earn “mixed
livelihoods” from various
sources — on-farm, off-
farm, and non-farm —
and with self-employment
and migration playing
particularly important
roles. While there is some
debate that youth are not
attracted to agriculture
and are leaving the sector,
the evidence paints a
nuanced picture. Some
countries are indeed
experiencing trends of
youth turning away from
agriculture and/or
working fewer hours per
week in agriculture than
older age groups;
however, the absolute
numbers of youth who are
dependent on farming or
livestock production is
likely to increase because
of population growth.
Primary data across
multiple countries
confirms that youth are
not attracted to low-wage,
low-value production, and
are instead attracted to
modernization/ new
practices, use of
technology, and
opportunities for “quick
money” with relatively
higher earnings than
staple crops. Youth
decisions to engage in
work are also shaped by
the environment in which
they live: the economic
and political context,
social norms and customs,
the nature of the agri-food
system, institutions, laws
and regulations, parental
and peer influence, media,
previous experiences, and
gender relations.
Overall, the literature
consistently agrees that
the top three key
constraints to youth
engagement in agriculture
are access to land,
finance, and skills. While
there is some debate
about whether these
structural barriers are
specific to youth (as older
populations are
marginalized in the same
ways), youth- and gender-
specific issues appear in
each of these areas. The
agriculture sector writ
large is characterized by a
number of structural
barriers, and these
barriers are often more
pronounced for specific
subgroups, including
youth who experience
vulnerability across
multiple fronts. Broadly
speaking across all
constraints, there is a need
for youth engagement in
collective action and
advocacy for agriculture
policy.
More evidence is needed
on youth participation in
agri-food systems, and
especially the benefits of
taking a youth
mainstreaming and/or
youth-focused approach
to agri-food systems
development. Future
research must also
acknowledge the diversity
of different youth
segments and the different
contexts in which they
operate. To this end,
policymakers must avoid
a one-size-fits-all
solution, distinguishing
between long-term
approaches (employment
through on-farm
productivity) versus
short-term approaches
(youth self-employment
and entrepreneurship), as
well as “demand-side”
versus “supply-side”
solutions, tailored to the
specific context of the
country and its agri-food
system, the local context
and its stakeholders, and
the target youth
segments.” A speech
made Parveen Bala about
the attitude from the
youth toward agriculture
is “

Bula Vinaka and good

morning to you all.

At the outset I wish to

thank Tui Magodro and
his people for hosting
us here this morning
and I also wish to
acknowledge the warm
reception accorded to
me and my team.

It’s a pleasure to be
here at Bukuya village,
home to many of our
rugby players and as
well as some of our
famous boxers.
Today’s handover
programme will be
beneficial to the
members of the 4
youth clubs present
here this morning.

Youth participation in
the agriculture sector is
to be commended.
Even though 2021 has
been a difficult year
due to the covid19
pandemic, we have
witnessed the
commitment from our
youth actively involved
in farming to support
their family and
communities.
Therefore, I wish to
reiterate Governments
support and encourage
you all to continue to
work towards the vision
of our Hon. Prime
Minister, to build a
better Fiji for all and no
one is left behind.

I am told that some of

you have already
planted yagona and
other vegetables and
root crops which is
likely to provide you
the source of income
and provide enough
food to feed your
family and your
communities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Government has
provided incentives for
interested farmers and
youth graduating with
Agriculture-based
qualifications from Fiji
National University as
‘youth and agriculture’
on our development
agenda. This is critical
to our food security
and to our economy as
we seek to reduce
imports and increase
exports of Fijian
produce.
Agriculture is a
business. Farming
provides employment
and entrepreneurial
opportunities for youth.
We need to identify
and take ownership of
the resources we own;
and maximise the
opportunities provided
by Government
through its various
Ministries.

The youth will always

make a difference
around the world. We
can only offer you the
best learning
opportunities to make a
difference by growing
enough food to feed
your family and your
communities.

There are many

challenges ahead for
the sector especially
climate change. There is
more capital going into
organic farming each
year and we need to
keep pace with this
development so we can
market “truly Fijian
grown” products with
nothing but natural
inputs.

We have always
believed that to engage
with youth will give us
the firsthand
experience about their
hopes and dreams and
that is why we have
been reaching out to
the thousands of
unreached youth to
have face to face
meeting and to be in a
better position to
understand and make
right decisions for our
young population.
Youth in different areas
have different needs.
For example, in
maritime the youth are
dependent on fishing.

I wish to congratulate
you all, we all look
forward to hearing of
and seeing your
successes in the near
future.

Vinaka vakalevu and

thank you all very
much.”