Galvanizing The Economic Potentials Of The Rural Population Through Effective Participation and Leadership in Agriculture Of The Youths.
Paper Presented at the 2023 Mbaise Policy Roundtable, Inc. on the Theme: Education & Agriculture as building blocks for youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship at Chris VI Hotel, near Eke Ahiara junction Owerri-Umuahia road, Mbaise, Imo State by Amagwu Ibeawuchi Francis, PhD, HCIB, FTFA,WAAD,MNIM.
Protocol.
Under the broad theme of today’s roundtable discussion, with focus on Education and Agriculture as building blocks for youth leadership and Entrepreneurship. We will concentrate on mobilizing our youths for effective participation in the economic life of the Rural Population with Agriculture and Entrepreneurship as a takeoff base.
Conceptually, Agriculture is the mainstay of every economy and the strong link between leadership and Entrepreneurship cannot be overemphasized.
Agriculture is a major determinant of the strength of African economies. This is borne out of the prevailing rich green vegetation, favorable climate and fertile soil. It is natural that the economy of African countries is deeply rooted in the Rural communities. Despite the categorization of the urban and rural areas in the economic profile of the nation, the Rural economy through agriculture provides food for cities, raw materials for industries and timber for construction. A full understanding of these economic profiles and ingredients underscores the need to galvanize the economic potentials of the Rural areas for effective contribution to Gross Domestic Product(GDP).
Unfortunately, due to poor orientation and bad management of the economy, African economies have become too dependent on importation rather than exports for economic growth. It is common knowledge that no nation can grow with the economic ingredients of another.
Education provides training for both leadership and Entrepreneurship and the youths are at the center of this link. With adequate training and sensitization, it is obvious that a good framework could be established for youth participation in the agricultural value chain which in itself is a panacea for Entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, the curriculum of our educational system only prepares our youths for paid jobs and not Entrepreneurship and this is a fallout of colonization. Before colonization, Africans through the rural communities were basically farmers and entrepreneurs, from subsistence farming to trading in the rural communities and subsequently commercialization of agricultural products. Excesses from farm products are traded in the rural markets to earn income for other uses beyond feeding. The urban areas are constantly supplied with food (yam, plantain, cassava, fruits) and other agricultural products because farming is done in the rural and not in the urban areas.
Colonization/Civilization made agriculture (rural farming) an inferior occupation to the youths hence it was difficult to see youths participate in palm wine taping and associated economic activities in the rural areas. Hence, focus on paid job employment which could not be accommodated by existing corporate organizations and public sector.
Nigerian youths are largely unemployed/underemployed to the extent that some graduates work as security personnel or other menial jobs and wait for end of the month for their wages and salaries. Even those that are employed are not guaranteed of steady employment or regular salary payments. The turbulence in the global economy today makes it imperative for nations to look inwards and tap into the economic potentials of their various communities to be able to feed and engage in international trade (Import and Export). Hence, most African countries suffer balance of payment deficit, where receipts from exports fall short of expenditure on imports and the resultant effect of this is excessive borrowing at very high interest cost and harsh negotiations. He who goes borrowing goes sorrowing. When a child of a wealthy man becomes a beggar, the humiliating social implication can better be imagined, and such persons are profiled and termed as prodigal children. This is the bane of African economies and its management.
There is no denying the fact that Africans are rich in natural and human resources which can guarantee sustainable development in Agriculture and Entrepreneurship. With the right educational curriculum, a strong building block can be established for youth leadership. Leadership is about creating a direction for immediate and future actions based on the vision of a people or organization. Hence, our youths are supposed to learn the ingredients of leadership from the ways of our fathers.
The right education provides appropriate techniques of converting farming products to materials of higher economic value both for local consumption and exports. Our youths can no longer be inclined to seeking paid employments in the midst of hunger and poverty in the land and since the advanced economies are still suffering from economic recession/ depression and do not have the capacity to release grants, it is undeniable obvious that our destinies are now in our hands.
Education provides the necessary framework for entrepreneurship and collaborations, particularly, training on ways of economic participation with increased value. In the early 70s and up to today, the common orientation is travelling abroad for greener pastures (even if it’s to wash dead bodies for a living) but we now know that no place is greener than Africa.
In appreciation of the other presentations on the theme of today’s discussion, it is instructive for our youths to embrace agriculture and entrepreneurship and devote more time on the sensitization and training in this area of competence by so doing we would have lifted the economic potentials of our rural areas to contribute more to our national economy instead of heading to the cities or other nations for menial jobs which only frustrates and makes us more inferior.
The world today is a global village and with the internet, e-commerce and ICT, whatever we do in any location can be showcased internationally. Let us take our destinies in our hands, there is no better future than the one we give to ourselves today.
There is a need for a paradigm shift because abandoning our rural communities will fast tract the extinction of our roots because a man without a root is non-existent.
As we listen to this and other lectures today, the major take home is to restore African rural communities lifestyle which will ensure that, economic potential of rural areas is effectively mobilized for national economic development.
A thriving economy is one built on the natural resources of economic operators within a space. And for us, this space is the Nigerian economic environment.
Thank you for listening.
Prof Ibeawuchi Francis Amagwu is faculty Micro and Development Finance Apollos University, Great falls, Montana USA and a senior research fellow(SRF), West African Green Economic Institute Gregory University Uturu, Abia State(WAGEGI).
MPR 