Friday 19 November 2010

Pacific Youth in Agriculture Strategy published

In the Pacific, as elsewhere, young people struggle to find formal employment when they leave the education system. Farming has all too often been regarded as a fall-back option – something to do if you don’t find anything else. In 2008, Pacific Ministers of Agriculture asked the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and its partners to explore what might be done to improve the attractiveness of farming as a career for Pacific Youth. As a first step, the Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network (PAFPNet), hosted by SPC’s Land Resources Division, in partnership with the Human Development Programme of SPC undertook a survey in November 2009 of young people in Fiji, Tonga and Kiribati to explore issues central to their participation in farming and what needed to be done to encourage, support and empower young people to realise the full potential of a career in farming. This blog has been an important resource for guiding the development of that strategy which we are happy to say has now been approved and endorsed by the Heads of Agriculture and Forestry Services (HOAFS) and Ministers of Youth in September 2010 and which it is hoped will provide a road map for countries of the Pacific to encourage better partnerships, policies and programme to support the active engagement of youth in farming across the region as well as the nurturing of young agricultural entrepreneurs. Well done all.

Copies of the Pacific Youth in Agriculture Strategy 2011 – 2015 can be obtained from Ms Miriama Kunawave Brown, PAFPNet Coordinator at SPC (miriamak@spc.int) and is available to download here.