The March 2011 issue of Farming Matters will look at the specific role which youngsters play in family farming.
As agreed by the UN General Assembly, the year starting on 12 August 2010 has been proclaimed as the International Year of Youth. Twenty-five years after the first International Youth Year was celebrated, the world has seen many changes.
What impact do these changes have on the younger members of the 400 million farmer families all over the world? The March 2011 issue of Farming Matters will look at the specific role which youngsters play in family farming.
Youngsters form the largest population group in many countries, and their numbers and relative size keep on growing. What is the capacity of agriculture and small-scale family farming for attracting and “absorbing” them, providing them with work, income and a decent livelihood? Recent decades have seen a strong trend of migration. With more young people moving to the cities, what is the future of family farming?
We want to look not only at the roles and responsibilities of young people, but also at the contributions that they can make. Youngsters are known to be much more interested in (and knowledgeable about) mass media tools and communication devices than the older generation. What benefits can the information highway bring to farming? We are also interested in youngsters’ own perspectives on farming, the specific difficulties they face and the steps needed to solve them.
We welcome your suggestions and contributions on articles, photographs, contacts of people you think have expertise in this area or ideas for other topics you think we should address.
