SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, says youth in Zimbabwe and other African countries need to have their minds “decolonised” to embrace agriculture and not prefer white collar jobs.
Mudenda said this at the 53rd Southern African Development Community (Sadc) PF Assembly underway in Tanzania.
It is being held under the theme: Modernising Agriculture to address Food Insecurity and Youth Unemployment in the Sadc Region: The Role of Parliaments.
Mudenda said the youth must be involved in agricultural activities.
“To harness this demographic dividend, all subsector initiatives must recognise the role of youth in agriculture. Mainstreaming of youth in all of the key areas enables Zimbabwe to leapfrog into an uppermiddle-income status by 2030 through agric-led economic development,” Mudenda said.
“One reason for the slower uptake of agriculture by the youths is the youth’s desire for white collar jobs. The mindset needs decolonisation.”
“Related legislation on agriculture has been amended to comply with this constitutional provision as a condition precedent to enhanced agricultural productivity.”
Mudenda said smart agricultural practices will help boost food security.
“It is imperative, therefore, that the Sadc region speedily embraces the Smart Agriculture Ecosystem, the region should urgently enter the data agricultural revolution,” Mudenda said.
He added: “Transforming the agriculture sector through ICT technologies and any other innovations is a perfect condition to ameliorate the rest of our economies in Africa let alone in the Sadc region.
“As such, Africa and indeed Sadc should roll out inclusive broad-based interventions to achieve the consummation of SDGs, Malabo Protocol, the Sadc Agro-Industrialisation Agenda and largely the Africa Agenda 2063 as well as the transformative Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement which anchors intra-Africa continental trade matrix.”
“Consequently, the mechanisation of the agricultural sector has resulted in surplus production of corn and in particular wheat in the past cropping seasons. Zimbabwe no longer imports wheat and other grains from Ukraine and Russia. ”
Source Zimsituation