Put youth at forefront of agriculture – Green

Minister of state in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Floyd Green has urged the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to increase its focus on youth and technology and introduce new measures to support and encourage youth involvement in agriculture by setting up an agriculture innovation fund.

“I am passionate about the fact that we must find a way to facilitate persons across the region to be the creators of the technology we are going to be utilising in agriculture. There should be an agriculture innovation technology fund through which IICA would provide funding to allow, especially youth across the region who have technology innovations, start-up companies around technology that are directly linked to agriculture to scale up their projects, plans, and programmes,” said Green.

He was addressing the recent Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas’ 20th Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) held in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The ministers of agriculture and livestock of 34 countries in the Americas met to discuss the modernisation of the agriculture sector in the Americas and key issues affecting food supply in the region. The group served as a supportive body in deciding institutional modernisation efforts currently taking place at IICA.

FINDING BALANCE

The IABA is the highest-level governing body of IICA, the agency of the inter-American system specialising in agricultural and rural development. The conference provided a platform for three main subjects: ‘Opportunities for rural inclusion in the digital era’, ‘Towards a new balance between productivity and sustainability’ ,and ‘Health, safety and quality for the future of trade’.

The forum sought to bridge the gaps among countries, individuals, and ­technologies that hinder agricultural development. It included networking opportunities with the government officials present and the private sector. This included representatives from global companies with operations in agricultural production, such as Microsoft and Bayer.

Green further stated, “The IICA would also provide some seed funding but, more ­importantly, would also engage stakeholders like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook to provide additional funding. We have to recognise that the youth are the agents of change and innovation in agriculture and our countries as a whole. They are the future of agriculture. The sector has to be more attractive to them to not only boost profitability but to provide the opportunities for them to introduce new technologies and merge these with traditional methods to ensure food security for their future selves, their families, and the world.”

The minister also spoke to IICA about ­climate change and its impact on ­agriculture, pointing out the disruptions in food ­availability, food quality, and access to food. He highlighted the challenges faced by ­farmers in Jamaica owing extreme dry ­periods and said that local farmers were gradually adapting to climate-smart agriculture. He said the practice of climate-smart agriculture might also be an opportunity to appeal to young people.

Green continued: “Increasing the ­awareness of the opportunities in agriculture, like ­marketing, research, and engineering, is ­pertinent to engaging youth in climate-smart agriculture.”