Dr Mandeep Singh Azad Dr Manmeet Motan
Arguably, reviving India’s agriculture is the country’s most important agenda. But who will carry forward this primary livelihood activity? There might not be a next generation farmer left in the country. According to the Census 2011, every day 2,000 farmers give up farming. The young among the farming communities are hardly interested in agriculture. Even a majority of students who graduate from agricultural universities switch over to other professions. It is called the “great Indian agro brain drain”. Paradoxically, agriculture still seems dependable: despite dipping contribution to the country’s gross domestic product, 55 per cent of the workforce hails from the agriculture sector.
By 2050, the United Nations has estimated that the world’s population will be around 9 billion. According to calculations by the world food organization, by the year 2030 we’ll need fifty percent more food in the world. By default, or as required by nature, everyone eats. But why has a greater percentage of the youth decided not to engage in agriculture? Truth is, the youth are not to blame, and here is why? The image most people have of agriculture is that of the uneducated rural farmer who engages in subsistence farming, and associated with hard labour and poverty. Who would want to look haggard and unkempt, tending to animals or crops, and still be at the mercy of those who will purchase them?. Everyday, a lot of parents invest heavily towards their children’s education from basic through tertiary education. This is especially true in a country like ours where public (Government owned) schools at all levels have lost their once coveted glory. Education is not cheap; parents want the best for their children, so in choosing careers, they tailor their children towards choices they are convinced will promise economic gains. They guide their children to pursue professional courses so that they can be competitive in the market place. Unfortunately, agriculture is not seen as one. In order for young people to see the gains in choosing careers in different aspects of agriculture, there has to be more pragmatic approaches by the government, parents and school owners. It is now a collective responsibility to attract intelligent, vibrant and young minds needed for the transformation of the sector. Agriculture as a business is not limited to production. It includes post harvest handling and processing (including storage), marketing, until it gets to the final consumer. So, government has to continually work to strengthen various institutions within the agriculture sector, as well as research and develop decent jobs (careers) along the value chain of different agricultural enterprises.
Key challenge and solutions for making agriculture more attractive to younger generations.
* Link social media to agriculture
The rise of social media and its attraction among young people with access to the appropriate technologies could be a route into agriculture if the two could be linked in some way. Mobile phone use is growing rapidly and people are now much more connected to sources of information and each other. Utilising these channels to promote agriculture and educate young people could go a long way in engaging new groups of people into the sector.
* Improve agriculture’s image
Farming is rarely portrayed in the media as a young person’s game and can be seen as outdated, unprofitable and hard work. Greater awareness of the benefits of agriculture as a career needs to be built amongst young people.
* Strengthen higher education in agriculture
Relatively few students choose to study agriculture, perhaps in. Taught materials need to be linked to advances in technology, facilitate innovation and have greater relevance to a diverse and evolving agricultural sector, with a focus on agribusiness and entrepreneurship.
* Greater use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Not only can ICT be used to educate and train those unable to attend higher education institutions but it can be used as a tool to help young people spread knowledge, build networks, and find employment. Catering to a technologically savvy generation will require technological solutions. Such technologies can also reduce the costs of business transactions, increasing agriculture’s profitability.
* Empower young people to speak up
If we are to enable youth to transform agriculture then the barriers to their engagement, such as access to land and finance, need to be addressed. National policies on farming and food security need to identify and address issues facing young people. As such youth need to become part of policy discussions at the local and national levels, whether as part of local development meetings, advisory groups or on boards or committees.
* Facilitate access to land and credit
Land is often scarce and difficult to access for young people, and without collateral getting credit to buy land is nigh on impossible. Innovative financing for agriculture and small businesses is needed..
* Greater public investment in agriculture
Young people may see agriculture as a sector much neglected by the Government, giving farming the image of being old fashioned. Investment in agriculture is more effective at reducing poverty than investment in any other sector but public expenditure on agriculture remains low. * Make agriculture more profitable
This is an easy statement to make but a difficult one to realise. Making agriculture profitable requires that the costs of farming and doing business are reduced while at the same time productivity increases. Although large-scale commercial farming springs to mind, this is not necessarily the case, and small farms can be highly productive with low labour costs.\
The only way to attract youth to agriculture is to make it look sexy and profitable as a profession.
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