During the just ended Zimbabwe Youth Agrepreneurship Summit (ZYAS 2022) hosted by the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, young farmers expressed how difficult it will be to advance the agricultural sector if farmers are not united and organized.
The Summit which was held at the Jubilee Christian Centre in Milton Park attracted participation of over 180 young farmers from all over the country as well as relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
Running under the theme; Powered by Innovation, Driven by Value Creation, the summit was evidence that although many young people are interested in agriculture, the sector has to be sustainable and profitable for them to stay in farming.
The objectives of this Ninth edition of ZYAS were also in line with ZFU’s new strategic plan which promotes, ‘A resilient, Commercialized and Viable agricultural sector,’. The new strategic plan also incorporates a strategic objective of increasing youth participation in agriculture from 5% to 30% by 2030.
At the Summit, young farmers discussed strategies to improve the viability of the agricultural sector as one young farmer alluded, “…Imagine what would happen if we were organized and many of us belonged to a farmer organization like ZFU, we would be able to organize events like this one easily and influence policies that affect us,” said Clarence Mashavave.
“As farmers, the primary producers of food, we can have an influence on the price of inputs, as well as the producer price only if we stop working in isolation,” he added.
During a Talk-Show, young farmers who have been affiliated to ZFU, highlighted some of the benefits of being a member of the Union.
“My agricultural story starts with ZFU, the Union identified me when I did not know what I was going to do with my life. Through the Fit For Life project which was implemented by ZFU, I was enrolled at an agricultural training. After that I started farming, doing horticulture and through the various trainings organized by ZFU, I was taught that in business you have to be unique, now I produce export quality products which I am selling to the Netherlands,” said a ZFU young farmer from Mashonaland East, Brighton Chomurema.
Joshua Zinzombe from Mashonaland Central highlighted that, through ZFU he was connected to relevant stakeholders and platforms which have enlarged his agricultural vision,” Who would have thought a rural boy like me would be attending regional agricultural conferences in different countries, recently through ZFU I attended a conference hosted by the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) in South Africa and next week I am attending the PAFO International Young Farmers’ Summit in Rwanda,” he said.
Other four young farmers who were part of the talk show also highlighted that they were going to leave for Brussels the following day, and this was coming after ZFU had nominated them for a SACAU conference held in South Africa in June 2022.
Exposure visits enable farmers from different regions to interact and learn from each other, allowing them to see practical examples of successful integration of sustainable practices in different farming communities.
ZFU envisions that the young farmers who have benefitted from these programs will share their experiences with fellow farmers and bring ZYAS 2022 objectives to light.
