Pramesh Pokharel, ICC, Youth, La Via Campesina, South Asia
General Secretary of All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPFa)
What is happening?
There are at least two urgent calls that invite the discussion on youths in agriculture. The first call for the urgency of attracting youth to agriculture is for the future of agriculture. The average age of farmers all over the world has been increasing especially in recent years. Data shows that the average age of farmers in South Korea (Kim, 2022)[1] and Japan[2] already exceed 60 years which is not different from European countries[3] and similar is the situation in many other countries. The second urgent call that invites youths in agriculture is that a large number of farmers are leaving the farm due to migration, displacement, and marginalization. The percentage of people engaging in farming is decreasing rapidly not only in South Asia but all over the world. There is a distraction from farming and this generation of farmers is reaching the age of retirement, and the next one does not want to farm. Farming is a dying occupation and in the context of rural distress, climate and ecological crisis, encroachment, and grabbing of resources, especially fertile land, neoliberal policies favor free market agriculture. Besides these, hunger and poverty in the world have not decreased especially among rural communities for the last 25 years despite many attempts[4], therefore, it is urgent to transform agriculture in such a way that it uplifts the status of small food producers. In a continent like Africa where a large share of the population is youths and almost 25% of the economy is agricultural, youths are either unemployed or have underpaid jobs, agriculture can be the prime opportunity to employ youths. Therefore, to eradicate hunger and poverty, to transform agriculture in a sustainable way, to uplift the status of the peasantry by fusing science and culture and for the employment of millions of youths in the agricultural value chain, youth in agriculture is urgent.
Why is this happening?
Anthropologists such as Eric Wolf[5] and David Graeber[6] claim that the recent phenomenon of migration and rural exodus is a result of rural distress, land grabbing, dislocation of indigenous and ethnic communities, agrarian crisis and many other impacts of neoliberal capitalism and corporate globalization. Neoliberalism has destroyed the rural, local and indigenous economies and displaced and dislocated the indigenous people from their land and territories.
The neoliberal corporate policies which undermine the value of producing food in harmony with nature have devastating impacts on rural agriculture, distracting youths from agriculture and raising huge concerns about the future of agriculture. It is because we live in a corporate globalized capitalist world based on a profit cycle, exploitation of human resources or labor and natural resources are its primary sources for its existence. The present form of neoliberal globalized system which is also called post-Fordism needs a large number of labor reserves for its decentralized-multinational production and distribution system. Therefore, neoliberal reforms were directed to destroy the rural agricultural environment in developing countries where a majority of people were engaged for their livelihood. Destruction of rural agriculture, uneven development, displacement of indigenous people and minorities from their land and territories; conflict, etc were the tools of Capitalism to create labor reserves. Similarly, opening markets, destruction of the cottage and small industries, grabbing of land and natural resources, and cutting of subsidies and grants in agriculture destroyed rural agriculture resulting in rural distress and rural exodus. This is how corporate and financial capital created labor reserves.
In this context, it is important to think about alternatives to neoliberal policies for the youth’s engagement in agriculture for the self-reliant economies and transformation of agriculture. It is possible only through the implementation of food sovereignty principles.
How Food Sovereignty is the Solution?
We know that without food not only the people but also life on earth is not possible and we have to continue to produce food. When the future of agriculture is in crisis due to corporate neoliberal policies, creating a conducive environment for the involvement of youth in agriculture has become urgent for the future of agriculture, to continue diverse food production and sustain the lives on Earth overcoming the challenges faced by agriculture and peasantry.
There is much consensus among people’s organizations and movements around the world about the solutions to problems faced by humanity at present (IPC, 2022). There is a popular Slogan, Food Sovereignty is the only solution and way forward. La Via Campesina is justifying its movements against the neo-liberal dogma with the alternatives of food sovereignty. These movements are rejecting deregulation, privatization, and open and so-called free market policies and advocating food sovereignty as the concept favoring localized food systems for people’s nutrition, incomes, economies, ecologies, and culture since it aims to guarantee and protect people’s space, ability and right to define their own models of food production, distribution, and consumption (Nyeleni, 2007). Food sovereignty as the principle of guaranteeing producers’ sovereign power on sustainable, localized, and socio-culturally adaptive production and distribution systems, advocates the equity and justice of many underprivileged communities against the business-as-usual model of neoliberalism.
At present, 70% of the world’s food is produced by small farmers using local resources to feed their families and sustain rural economies, not by big farmers, industrial farms, and corporations. Small food producers are also stewards of nature and culture. Therefore, it is the peasantry that is feeding the world. On the other hand, capitalist and industrial production are destroying natural resources and using excessive chemicals, and impacting people’s health. Policies favoring corporate agriculture and agribusinesses are also the cause of the climate crisis and degradation of the agricultural environment in rural areas. Food sovereignty principles and the practice of agroecology have been the peasants’ way of transforming agriculture in a sustainable and peasants-friendly way. This transformation uplifts the economic status of millions of peasants and also can feed the world with healthy food produced in harmony with nature.
Therefore, to retain youths in agriculture, food sovereignty is important. To create a conducive environment for youths in agriculture, the implementation of food sovereignty is urgent. Agroecological practices which are the fusion of science in agriculture should be the sustainable practice of transforming agriculture. Youths in Agriculture means innovative practices, locally adaptive technologies, information about markets, and also awareness of producing healthy foods in nature-friendly ways. Youths in Agriculture is also important because the image of agriculture in developing countries is very bad and agriculture is taken as the profession of illiterate, poor, people with no other choice. Now it is on the shoulders of the young generation to change the degrading image of agriculture devastated by neoliberal policies and to change the face of agriculture in a different way, following the food sovereignty model. Engagement of qualified and skilled youths of the 21st century can only change the undermined image of agriculture and implementation of food sovereignty can only create such a situation.
Agriculture can only be transformed with young qualified farmers who can easily take advantage of scientific information and technology by getting weather information, knowing prices in the market, and techniques of value addition in various steps of the value chain, etc. Therefore, agriculture can be a major source of income and employment for millions of youths. Not only in production but in the greater areas of the agricultural value chain and agri-based local industries millions of youths can get opportunities.
Therefore, public policies favoring youth who are in agriculture and attracting new generations to farming are needed. Retaining migrant returnees acquitted with new practices, entrepreneurship skills, and investment capacities in agriculture can be a major source of transformation in agriculture, especially in countries like Nepal. For this, all the efforts on access to investment and finance, training and education, and ensuring access and control over land and resources are needed. Professionalism, technology transfer, and sustainability are synonymous with youths and should go hand in hand. Subsidies, insurance, and grants are also important for the creation of a conducive environment to attract new generations to agriculture. The time has come to think about the future of agriculture. There may be other ways, but the peasant’s movement including La Via Campesina is calling for the attention of all to transform agriculture through the leadership of young peasants. Let’s hope that it will not take time to see some fruitful changes in national and international public policies and programs to provide young people with a prosperous future in farming.
Finally, neoliberal reforms targeted to destroy the agricultural environment should be stopped. Agriculture in developing countries and rural areas should be protected from the world trade regime. It is very important to realize the relevancy of the implementation of food sovereignty principles. If the present trend continues, with the growing population, there will be no agriculture while there will be more need for food production and the present price hike will climb up and the distribution pattern will be more unjust affecting the food security of millions of people. If we think of future generations, the future of peasantry and agriculture, the future of humanity, and the balance of the ecosystem, the world development paradigm should prioritize the issue of food, its production, and distribution in a sustainable way. Therefore, attracting youths to agriculture and creating a conducive environment for farming in rural areas is urgent both to transform agriculture and for the future of agriculture. We need to shift from neoliberal corporate agriculture to agroecological ways of producing enough food by practicing family farming by small-scale food producers. Industrial agriculture and neoliberal reforms can’t solve the problems since it has created the problems. In the case of Nepal, the implementation of the Food Sovereignty Law which has been enacted to guarantee the right to food sovereignty enshrined in the constitution can open new doors for the youths in agriculture and can be an important step to reduce the rural exodus leading to migration of youths to foreign countries for employment and create favorable conditions for youths in agriculture. Without Youths, Transformation in Agriculture is not possible! Youth in agriculture is most urgent for the future of Agriculture!
Reference:
- [1] Ms. Kim from the Korean Women Peasants Association highlights one of the top challenges of Korean Peasants is aging and the average age of farmers already exceeds 60 (LVC, ICC meeting Kathmandu, 2022)
- [2] In 2020, the average age of persons engaged in farming in Japan stood at 67.8 years, Catharina Klein, Oct 24, 2022
- [3] There are few young farmers; only 11.9 % of EU farm managers were under the age of 40 years old in 2020.
- [4] According to the World Food Program, as many as 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021 and it was 800 million in 1996 according to FAO.
- .[5] Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century, by Eric Wolf provides the perspective of the peasants whose lives and ways of living were destroyed by the depredations of the imperial powers.
- [6] Graeber in The Democracy Project talks about how the US democracy project is actually imperialist and imposed the profit-oriented neoliberal policies that have destroyed the locals
- [7] October 16, 2022, IPC. IPC is the International Planning Commission on Food Sovereignty which is the single largest global platform of more than 6000 organizations.
- [8] It is an international Peasants’ Movement with 180+ organizations in 80+ countries. It is the voice of the small food producers, peasants, indigenous people, and rural workers.
- This Article is first published on https://roots-iapc.org/?g=wpca&m=index&a=single&post_id=190&lang=en