Enhancing food security: Minister urges graduating youth agripreneurs to make best use of skills acquired.

The ceremony held in Yaounde was attended by several other state officials including the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou; the Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, Dr Taiga; and his peer of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof Marie Therese Abena Ondoa.

The youth agripreneurs were trained by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, through the Enable Youth Programme. The initiative is part of the implementation of the Agricultural Value Chain Development Programme.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Mbairobe reminded his audience that Africa has the highest proportion of young people in the world. 

The member of government quoted United Nations statistics as indicating that 75% of the African population is under the age of 35, and that there are over 600 million young people aged between 15 and 35 in Africa. 

He said over the next 20 to 30 years, the said significant proportion of the young population is expected to continue growing. 

The minister also noted that around 65% of young people in Africa, live in rural areas and are employed mainly in the agricultural sector, where they account for 65% of the workforce.

“The above-mentioned statistics are obvious in Cameroon. The majority of young people have no stable economic opportunities. Most of them live below the poverty line,” the minister stated.

He said the “fact that young men and women are not fully absorbed into productive employment represents a major risk for our society”. 

The minister said recent research indicates that as African economies evolve, they expand employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for young people in profitable agricultural value chains where consumer demand is growing. 

“For this reason, the success of young agripreneurs can help solve social problems such as rural exodus, food security, malnutrition and employment,” he said.

He quickly regretted that: “However, lack of finance, access to land, markets, skills and technologies are major obstacles to young people's participation in agricultural development”.

Minister Mbairobe said although there are various economic sectors that may be of interest to young people, the agri-food sector is capable of providing enough employment and significant economic opportunities for this demographic group”. 

He said the integration of young graduates, especially in the agricultural and pastoral sectors, represents a major challenge for the reduction of povertý and youth unemployment as well as the preservation of social cohesion and peace in Cameroon. 

The minister described the young people as constituting an important resource that will contribute to the prosperity of the country if they are well-directed and supported. 

“Otherwise, they are doomed to delinquency and will continue to swell the ranks of all those who roam our cities, causing all sort of abuses decried in our cities,” he also mentioned.

He explained that Enable Youth Cameroon programme was set up to address the situation of young people in the country. He said the programme is an initiative of the African Development Bank, AfDB, which is one of its responses to the challenges of youth unemployment in Africa. 

“The program is designed to empower young people at every stage of the agribusiness value chain as agripreneurs by harnessing new skills, technologies and financing approaches so that young people can establish viable and profitable agribusinesses,” he noted.

The minister said the development initiative was launched in 2012, with the aim of changing negative perceptions of agriculture among young audiences, encouraging more young people to take up agricultural entrepreneurship and, above all, helping to solve the problem of unemployment among young African graduates.

He said Tuesday’s graduation ceremony represented an infinitely joyous moment, not only in the life of each of the incubates as a step towards their future, but also in the development of Agricultural Value Chains in Cameroon.

The Minister recalled that: “A few years ago, I was already welcoming you to your various incubation centers, and today I'm back to congratulate you on having made it through, and especially on having graduated”.

He has invited the graduates to make good use of the initial installation allowances and the funding offered by government.