Zimbabwe is upping its drive to attract youths into farming by targeting school children.
In a country routinely facing food deficits and a limping economy marked by high levels of unemployment, authorities are adopting the “catch them young” mantra.
According to the ministry of primary and secondary education, more than 300 000 learners leave school annually with the bulk roaming the streets as opportunities for gainful employment and further studies remain slim.
Against this background, the ministry of agriculture is resting its food production revolution hopes on young learners.
In 2021 the agriculture ministry launched the Agriculture Education for Development Curricula, with teacher training colleges having dedicated programmes to introduce agriculture to primary and secondary school children.
At the launch of the curriculum, agriculture minister Anxious Masuka noted that “more than 90 percent of farmers still need skills”. This is an observation shared by not only aid agencies, but also government teachers in schools across the country.
“Interest for agriculture among learners needs more work here. Lack of resources has only made it difficult,” said Thomas Ndlovu, an agriculture teacher in Lupane, a rural district 120 km north of Bulawayo.
At the school, learners are introduced to practical skills on piggery, poultry and horticulture.
“There are a few kids who have shown interest in agriculture but then this area has a lot of dropouts who would rather pursue other interests,” Thomas said.
It is the practical and hands-on nature of the agriculture curriculum which Thomas says is discouraging many young learners.
“Agriculture by its nature is a hands-on undertaking but these kids feel like they are being punished when it is time to go to an agriculture class,” Thomas said.
The government has introduced farming to schoolchildren to address the lack of employment opportunities, but this initiative faces challenges. Educators note that aspiring young farmers struggle or fail because they lack proper training, despite agriculture being offered as a subject in schools.
His concerns reflect the challenges that have plagued the sector since the land redistribution programme where the government has complained that many beneficiaries have delegated farming to proxies.
While former commercial farmers who drove the agriculture sector to be the country’s economic bedrock worked the land themselves, authorities say new farmers have worked the land by remote via mobile phones.
In efforts to change that, the government has introduced farming to youths at an early age in schools, but this has brought its own challenges in an economy with few employment opportunities.
Educators say aspiring young farmers have failed or found the going tough because they have not received proper training despite schools offering agriculture as a subject.
“Many people we see taking up farming are adults who want to try something new and with their own resources,” said Burzil Chuma, an agriculture extension officer.
“Young people still want to explore other things. Unless they have grown up on productive commercial farms as happened in the past, there is still work to be done to make farming attractive to young people,” Burzil said.
This is happening despite the country’s historical investment in agriculture colleges dating back to years before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.
These institutions groomed the next generation of farmers but have become pale shadows of their former selves, and in recent years, organisations representing self-trained young farmers have emerged.
However, their overall contribution to national food silos is yet to be tested.
These young farmers have raised the usual limitations regarding the growth of their agriculture activities such as reluctance by financial institutions to extend loans to them and access to land.
The practical and hands-on aspects of the agriculture curriculum are a major factor in discouraging many young learners.
Thomas says even schools lack resources that would drive mass adoption of farming as a viable occupation.
“What I have seen is that these children do not pay attention to the theoretical side of agriculture and, worse, see the manual side as discouraging,” Thomas lamented.
Across the country, the ministry of education and the police have received reports of learners quitting their classes to join artisanal miners with the promise of instant riches.
The long-term benefits of time and money in agriculture have proven unattractive, says Thomas.
“It is difficult amid those circumstances to convince learners to take agriculture seriously,” Thomas said, expressing a sentiment that highlights common perceptions regarding agriculture in the country.
However, the government has made a commitment to make youth agriculture attractive by offering loans where young people with viable projects are given start-up finance.
A multi-million-dollar youth fund established under the late President Robert Mugabe was routinely abused and the impact of projects meant to empower young people in all sectors including agriculture is yet to be felt in a long faltering economy.
But as Burzil has seen, most youths look for what they think are “easy” projects.
“What I have seen is that many young people present the same proposal about poultry because that is the only thing they have been exposed to,” Burzil said.
“I think what is needed to drive youth agriculture are field trips to expose learners to what is happening on the ground, the opportunities available, best practices and everything else to attract young people into the sector,” he said.
