Destigmatise agriculture for youth – CYEN

The Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) wants to see more resources channelled into teaching young people the benefits of pursuing jobs in agriculture.

CYEN’s local coordinator Shannon Weekes told reporters at a news conference to mark World Environment Day on Monday, that a recent soil survey conducted amongst young people revealed that many of them are still not interested in working in agriculture because of the high level of stigma associated with the sector.

“There is still a negative connotation to agriculture and the work that needs to be put into it,” Weekes said. “I think some of the initiatives that we have put forward, if these are implemented, young persons would have a change of heart and a change of mind to get more involved in the agriculture sector.

“It’s not only about going out there in the field and ploughing by hand. Technology has developed over time and there is a lot of technology that makes agriculture a lot easier,” she said.

The CYEN Soil Survey, which was conducted during this year’s Agrofest showcase, saw 300 young persons between the ages of 15 – 29 completing the randomly distributed forms which were structured to test their knowledge on the importance of soil health to the environment.

While most of the participants demonstrated a basic understanding of why soil health is important to agriculture, with 77 per cent indicating that they learned about healthy soils in school, many participants were still unaware why a healthy soil and environment are important to other sectors that drive the nation’s economy.

Weekes believes that an expansion of agriculture education in schools, coupled with an expanded support framework for the new school nutrition policy, should be the way forward especially given the heightened interest in improving food security.

“I believe that if we start from an early age and try to change cultural behaviours and norms, [children] would become more sensitised and more encouraged to participate in this particular sector. We could encourage them to grow their own food at home and also school, and the food they grow could go back to the School Meals Department.”

She suggested that if more schools got involved in such a project, it could decrease the amount of imported vegetables and fruits.

Weekes further added: “If we could have more career showcases to show the different aspects of the agricultural sector and how persons can get involved, we would have more young persons being interested in having a career in the agricultural sector.”