A true story. While attending the Young African Leadership Initiative RLC Training our founder was struck at how many faces it turned by virtue of introducing himself as a farmer. He could see that every turned face raised so many questions.
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"So you are a Farmer right?"
"Does it pay much?"
"How big is your land?"
"You do not do anything else on the side?"
Questions written on faces and some loudly asked. For young people in this generation farming and by extension agriculture is as archaic as the engineering of the agrarian revolution. Who pumps water with a rotating water blade anymore? Who tills the land for income? Who sweats and dirties hands to feed the nation?
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It is a common belief that farming is dirty and unsustainable. And this belief has gone deeper into the impressions of the powers that be. Market systems are designed to disadvantage the producer, after all they are just raw fruits and vegetables right? Or seeds at some point. This has planked us into the current mess.
Millions of people experience hunger and malnutrition. The record of deaths is well documented. Why? We have gradually steered a generation from the most basic activity, tilling the land for food. We did this by selling a narrative that there are other options in mechanics, computing and arithmetics (read accounting). And those options come with big account balances at the end of each month.
For this generation to turn the corner a paradigm shift is needed this very moment. First and foremost let's make farming cool. You don't need tracts of land to become a farmer simple technologies like aquaponics and raised gardens are a fundamental direction. Providing a new perspective for a generation that cares more about the numbers on the account and very little of the quality of food available to them is as important as anything else.
Finally, let's get the farmer back to their original position of pride in the society. And yes we speak from the deep rooted African perspective where farmers were literally gods in their community. Okay up until we had native doctors, rain makers and manipulative chieftains. This among other debates are as vital to the whole story.
There you have it. This article is part of our commitment to raising awareness for youth and women involvement in Climate Smart and Conservation Agriculture. The content is the general opinions and thoughts of the author.
About Author: Kevin Makova
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