Engaging the young in agri

With the age of most farmers being the 50s, various private and public stakeholders are doing whatever they can to entice the younger generation to go into farming and agriculture.

One of the strategies being employed is the integration of digital technology into agriculture. We have seen a variety of initiatives on this ranging from mobile applications, tapping into social media, and even the use of financial technology.

Stakeholders seek to use these technological initiatives to show to bring in the youth into farming. While commendable, there should also be efforts made to invite the youth to really enroll in undergraduate programs that are agriculture related. It can visibly be observed that engineering, medical, and business courses continue to dominate the options of students pursuing a degree in college. However, we do not see many students taking up agriculture related courses. In Davao City alone, only two tertiary education insitutions are offering courses on agriculture -Rizal Memorial Colleges offers Bachelor in Science (BS) in Agricultural Technology and a diploma on the same course while University of Southeastern Philippines offers Bachelor of Agricultural Technology, BS in Agricultural Economics, and a Masters in Business Administration on Agribusiness Management. These agricultural courses are crucial as it provide future players in the agriculture sector the knowledge they need in rearing and running a farm or agribusiness. While efforts has been made to entice youth to go into agriculture, efforts should also be made to ensure that the younger generation will enroll in an agriculture related course. Probably it is time for the different stakeholders to review their strategies on engaging the youth to go into farming. Putting up a thriving demonstration farm in elementary or high schools might already be a good idea as it may instill the value of farming ang agriculture to the young ones. The tourism sector could also play a role in promoting farming to the youth as the Department of Tourism steps up its efforts to promote farm tourism. Here in Davao City alone, the Malagos Garden Resort, Eden Nature Park and Resort, and Huni Farm are a great place to start to help the younger generation gain appreciation for farming and agriculture.

Inviting the younger generation to go into farming and agriculture is not merely telling them to go into it but rather we should also instill to them the value and importance of agriculture.