<strong>WFO</strong> F@rmletterFARMATORYMarina CherbonnierWEB AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER,YPARD: THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS FORAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTYOUNGFARMERSAS ENERGYFOR LIFEAAgriculture is anageing sector – ithas been recurrentlystressed. Meanwhile,we have been nurturingthe (nonethelessaccurate) thought thatthe youth isn’t interested in agriculture.Another clear fact is that thereARE young professionals involved inagriculture – not only active ones butalso passionate young people aboutthe sector!They have been struggling, for many of them.But they have also found their way around, and they have now inspiring storiesto tell.We have been for too long delivering the wrong messages. It is high time toshow the field of opportunities that exists in agriculture, to highlight the positiveyouths’ perspectives about it and the support the youth can get to becomemore involved in the sector.Tshepiso is a beekeeper in Botswana. She was still student at the universitywhen she started this new business led mostly by old people. She made herown savings and personal investments to be able to build her start-up. Shenow sells her much diversified honey-based products to a variety of clients -from business to individual consumers - in her country.A strong training by the ministry of agriculture such as a thorough businessplan including evidences on how her business would generate revenue waskey to get the buying-into of landowners and banks. Her innovative mind andcreativity also helps her to continuously adapt to the challenges of a changingclimate. Her next perspectives are on agro-tourism!Pavlos went back to Greece at thetime when crisis hit the country themost. Initially an agricultural scientist,he decided to bet on farmingas a solution to the economic crisis.They re-shaped the four generationfamily farm with a more innovativeconcept where olives would get backtheir true value. They moved fromconventional farming to organicpractices and focused on serving aquality food market which also looksat conserving a healthy soil. Becausea transparent quality supply chainfrom the seeds to the taste buds ishis religion, Pavlos is also one of theco-founders of “We Deliver Taste”, aninitiative that offers multi-sensoryexperiences through true exchangesbetween producers and consumers.Young professionals in agricultureare vivid of innovative ideas thattackle both food and nutrition securityand global environmental challenges.They have solutions to makethe sector an interesting and viablecareer path for sustainable livelihoods.Some existing supports from governments,private sector and banks haveproved successful. Let’s celebratethese achievements, let’s share thesebest practices and ensure continuousand increasing support to theyouth.The best way to attract more youngpeople in the sector is by enablingthose young people who are alreadyinvolved in agriculture, and by breathinginto societies a true recognitionof agricultural professions.Madhan and a team of Nepalese students have been exploring the benefit ofmushroom cultivation in Nepal. They all belong to YPARD: a youth-led youngprofessionals’ network for agricultural development, which focuses on unleashingthe potential of young people in agriculture.Mushroom farming requires little initial investment, little time between cultivationand harvesting and thus rapid profit. Their reward is ultimate whenselling their own products at the local market on a daily basis. Not only didthey learn from this exercise but also, they taught these practices to theirpeers and farmers.24
<strong>WFO</strong> F@rmletterFARMATORYAA very special beginningWhen I was only 8 yearsold, I participated ingrowing corn and peanuts,as well as in harvestingcoffee, in a sort offamily farming. Furthermore, I did somemarket gardening and, more specifically,black nightshade growing with my parentsin an ocean bank of Mungo, in the coastof Cameroon. We used to sell our harvestproducts to passengers driving towardsthe Cameroonian city of Douala.When I turned 10, I managed to get a pieceof land in our large family field whereI produced maize and cocoyam. At home,I was simultaneously the goose bumpsraiser, following my mother’s example as“village chickens” raiser.Public Law studies coloured by my passionfor agriculture!Due to my mind confusion between justiceand law, I chose Law as my passionright after finishing high school. Soon myinterest in agriculture led me to familiarizemyself with the natives of the town ofDschang in western Cameroon where Ienrolled at the University of Dschang.This relationship allowed me to go withthem to the plantations where they cultivatedpotatoes, watermelons and tomatoesin a kind of subsistence agriculture.Practicing urban agricultureIt was in 2012, after two years of theorythat everything changed. I joinedan urban agriculture program calledPROTEGEQV in Yaoundé. This programincluded a “training” component and a“knowledge dissemination.” The goal was,according to ALTERNATIVE CANADAPROTEGEQV (NGO partner in this program)to train three young women whoin turn would frame an exclusively femaletarget practice of urban agriculture.In view of the many benefits of urbanagriculture in a context of food insecurityas defined in sub-regional common policiesto achieve MDG No. 1, my passionfor agriculture brought me to change mythesis and my professional guidance andinterested public policies for agriculturaldevelopment: The title of my new thesiswas:“The Comprehensive Programme for theDevelopment of African Agriculture (CA-ADP) and the formation of sub-regionalinternational company in Central Africa”.AGRICULTUREHAS MANAGEDTO CHANGEMY CAREERMy training in AgricultureDuring the training period, we learnedthe techniques of urban agriculture andits importance. We were formed in soiland its enrichment, as well as in hydroponics.Besides, we were led to share ourexperience with volunteers from Canadawhere such farming is mainly soilless cultivation.The double bottom container is the technologythat fascinated me the mostregarding agriculture without soil (likehydroponic agriculture), with its famousprinciple of capillary action. Green wallWouedjie Alice-NorraCAMEROON YOUTH INITIATIVE FOR RURALDEVELOPMENT CAMYIRDand the technique of vegetative multiplication of plant by fragmentation PIF (Plants issuefrom fragment), propagator, seed tray and nursery are tools and techniques whichwe got familiar with during the training.During the practical phase we supported and followed 150 women in this area. Wealso encouraged and participated in the development of nearly 150 gardens in the homesof women beneficiaries. Indeed, it was a program that targeted exclusively femalefarmers as they are the basis of production and food security. Likewise, we organizedseveral training seminars, for instance on corn, mushroom culture, vegetative propagationtechniques, etc.Over 30 women attended each session and about 300 women were trained directly byus in 9 months. The most overwhelming experience was training them in the cultivationof edible mushrooms. With over 50 women present that day, an average of 5 men insistedto be present, among which a Rwandan couple, a pastor and his wife who had beenpracticing urban agriculture in Cameroon for several years.Furthermore, the information tool installed Protects QV was another thing designedand implemented for agriculture awareness. Men and women came here every day toget information, solicit expertise or service in this or that specific area. Thus we createda number of schools and urban gardens, trained more than 500 people (students, housewivesand some men), collectively wrote a textbook on urban agriculture and I personallysupported the creation of several fields and agricultural production cooperatives.Women, the cornerstone for food securityCurrently I am pursuing my research and work in ICT Agriculture and Developmentprogram - Agrotic-dev - in a youth association called Cameroon youth Initiative for RuralDevelopment, CAMYIRD. I have created the blog named “Norra Urban Agriculture”as well as a Facebook page “Alice urban agriculture”.As we had to request every time the husband’s consent for his wife to attend the trainingsessions, or to exploit the area or wall the house for a green wall, the practice ofurban agriculture with women has proved to be difficult. Muslim women particularlywere always accompanied by their husbands, while they were simply not showing up.However, women are the cornerstone for productivity and food security and thus, theymust above all engage in the practice of agriculture.25
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