Tanzania's President and Ruto call on African leaders to support youth in agriculture

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NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan president William Ruto and his counterpart President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania have urged African heads of state to support youth in agriculture to help them make a living and generate food for the continent.

While addressing other leaders at the ongoing Africa Food Summit in Dakar, Senegal, President Samia said that her government has set aside 680,000 hectares to be allocated to women and youth for agricultural use, looking to feed the continent.

“The Agenda 2030 is a policy that will see that by 2030 the agriculture sector in Tanzania contributes 10 percent to the GDP. Who will help us achieve that? The youth. So, we have initiated a program called Build a Better Tomorrow for youth and women. At the moment we are undertaking several measures to make them attracted to agriculture: First, the youth don’t own land so we are giving them 10 hectares each. We have identified about 680,000 hectares for the youth and women, which they will own.”

Kenya’s head of state on the other hand emphasized the role of the youth and mechanization and fertilizer in boosting farm production.
“Tea, among the best crops we have, is giving us good returns. But for the 1.7 million acres under tea, we are getting the same income as 10 percent of what we have under horticulture. The difference is our fertilizer investment in horticulture, we have close to 700,000 tea farmers, against 50,000 in horticulture, but while the tea sector generates $1.2 billion annually, horticulture generates $1 billion, President Ruto. said.

President Ruto also revealed that agricultural mechanization and value addition are the gateways for the Kenyan youth.

“I believe the participation of young people is significant, as you can see from the returns from the two sectors: The more the young people are in a sector the greater the returns,” Ruto added.

The Kenyan government has also established the Agricultural Input Trust Fund to help youth and women acquire inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and incubation centers where they will be trained.

Both Ruto and were among 34 heads of state and government representatives – including Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye, DR Congo’s Felix Tshisekedi, and Rwandan Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente — at the summit that seeks to foster food sovereignty for the continent.

All the speakers emphasized the importance of food security for political stability and the security of nations.

The Kenyan head of state also challenged his fellow African leaders to take the discourse on agriculture beyond production to value addition and manufacturing.

He said Africa has the potential to produce surplus food for export noting that this can generate more income and create jobs, especially for the youth.

“We should not be discussing food 60 years after independence.“

He warned against dependence on rain-fed agriculture saying many countries in Africa experience hunger due to this.

Irrigation, the President explained, will assure Africa of enough food for consumption and export.

“There is no magic to enhanced agricultural production; more fertilizer use translates to more production.”

GAROWE ONLINE

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