Some time ago, some friends and I spent a day with 40 and 25 young people in primary seven and O-level vacations respectively at a farm in Mukono district.
The aim was to provide them with agribusiness practical training and hear from them what actually stakeholders should do to engage and enable young Ugandans embrace agriculture.
The three most outstanding points raised included: while teaching agriculture irrespective of the educational level, the aspect of money (farming as a business) should always be sound. The second point was that agriculture training, whether in schools or seminars, should always be practical. The third point was that agriculture should be made fun, termed as agro-tourism.
I was impressed that these young people knew what they wanted to be done in the agricultural sector. Similar points had been raised in an earlier agriculture ministry and Food and Agriculture Organisation consultative meeting held in September 2016.
On that same evening, I opened my WhatsApp group (AgriPolitics Lobby Advocacy) and found a post – Agriculture, six subjects to be dropped at O-level, The Observer.
Initially, I thought this was a hoax like many others on social media: “How can agriculture be dropped at O-level yet, instead, it should be promoted at all other educational levels?” This is what I thought.
Within 25 minutes, I received seven phone calls, everyone shocked by such a proposal. Like many other Ugandans, I don’t think such a decision will solve the current challenges faced by the education sector (one of them being graduating youth without or with very minimal skills for employment or self-employment creation) and/or the agricultural industry.
We need to be cognizant that agriculture and agribusiness has been and will continue being the huge sector in the world economy and importantly in Africa’s and Uganda’s economy. For example, agribusiness is projected to be a $1 trillion industry in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, and it should be at the top of the agenda for economic transformation and development.
Agribusiness can play a critical role in jump-starting economic transformation through the development of agro-based industries that bring much-needed jobs and incomes. Agribusiness directly contributes to the achievement of three key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (MDG1), promote gender equality and empower women (MDG3) and develop global partnerships for development (MDG8). Of course it indirectly contributes to all the MDGs.
History reveals that growth in agriculture has tended to be followed by broader economic development. By 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach 9.1 billion, 34 per cent higher than today. Nearly all of this population increase will occur in developing countries. About 70 per cent of the world’s population will be urban then (compared to 49 per cent today).
Income levels will be many multiples of what they are now. In order to feed this larger, more urban and richer population, food production must increase by 70 per cent. Annual cereal production will need to rise to about three billion tonnes from 2.1 billion tonnes today and annual meat production will need to rise by over 200 million tonnes to reach 470 million tonnes.
Will dropping agriculture at O-level syllabus to farm schools or technical institutes position Uganda to tap into this huge and many other emerging agricultural markets such as in Asia? Should we continue producing engineers yet nearly all the engineering contracts are awarded to Chinese firms?
Isn’t it possible that we can position ourselves so that we capitalize on the comparative and competitive advantage we have as the country so that we can produce quality and quantity foods and make deals and export to China?
Agriculture is perceived by many Ugandans, especially the youth, as unappealing, outdated, less paying, an activity for the underprivileged and uneducated citizenry.
Agriculture as a subject or a course is perceived by some Ugandans as that one by academic failures or the needy who can’t afford tuition for courses such as medicine.
Vocational/farm/technical schools are still looked at in a negative perspective by many Ugandans; also as institutions where academic failures and second and third-class citizenry study from.
Given the above, how will the youth perceive agricultural sector if dropped from O-level? How many young people will willingly study this subject?
Won’t the country be able to run out of the agricultural extension service providers? What new things will be done to these vocational schools to enable them practically train these agriculturists?
The government should promote agriculture at various education levels including primary and other higher learning centers by, for example, reinforcing school gardens.
The school syllabus should ensure that agriculture should be taught in a business perspective termed as Farming as a Business (FaaB).
Agriculture should be taught in a comprehensive manner, looking at the entire value chain and promote it as agro-tourism. This will not enable the youth earn from agricultural sector but will also change their attitude to look at agriculture as an attractive venture.
Uganda’s agricultural sector is already faced with a pyramid of challenges including low budgetary allocation, fake agricultural inputs, unstable market structures, poor agricultural infrastructure, negative perception among the youth, effects of climate change, limited technologies, land grabbing, massive corruption and very high ratio of extension service provider to farmers, among others.
Dropping agriculture from O-level is another gargantuan problem. Various stakeholders with Uganda at heart should rise up against this injustice to the farming industry.
ruhakana7@gmail.com
The author is the national coordinator, Agriculture Now.