Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development

By Anele Siwa
03 June 2008

The Minister of Agriculture in the Western Cape Cobus Dowry has on Monday launched the Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development.

“In the Western Cape the youth plays an integral part in the development of a home for all our people and therefore we need to make every effort to involve you as young people in agriculture, in order to equip you to take full ownership of the land that belongs to you,” says Dowry.

According to Dowry as from the birth of new democracy this Government has worked tirelessly to make sure that every citizen who has the desire to own a piece of land and to work that land, has an equal opportunity to do so.

“Agriculture plays a vital role in our fight against poverty and starvation. Therefore the Millennium Development Goals of the World Food Summit saw the commitment of all the leaders to halving poverty by 2015,” he added.

Dowry added that as partners within this movement it is vital that they take a holistic look at the problems associated with increasing levels of poverty, global inequality, peace, Land distribution, security and stability, financing for rural development, health, and capacity building.

“To my mind some of the most important objective should be to: promote and develop excellence in Agriculture amongst our youth and to create an awareness of the need to improve agricultural activities in order to ensure food security and economic stability of the country exchange information on best practices in youth led community rural development initiatives,” he explain.

Attempts to get comments from Vincent Domingo chairperson of the Youth Commission have failed.