The Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFF) has implored young people to fully participate into agriculture as one of the sure ways of fighting unemployment.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics report 2020, over 75% of the population are below the age of 30 years (UBOS 2022) facing unique challenges especially poverty.
The report further indicates that 55% of these live in poverty, with youth unemployment stand8ng at above 65 % with over 400,000 youth released onto the job market annually to compete for only 9000 jobs yet the rate at which the service and industry sectors create jobs is slower amidst increasing skills mismatch among the young people.
Speaking at the launch of the third National Agriculture Education Show 2024 at UNFF offices in Kampala, the deputy Chief Executive Officer Perez Kawumi expressed worry that young people continue to shun the sector.
“More solid reason as to why we should prepare our young generation to join the effort in strengthening the back born of the our country whereas the agriculture sector have been largely identified to have the highest potential for providing gainful employment to the youth I Uganda and they continue to shun the sector,” he narrated.
This year’s show is organized in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries together with the Ministry of Education and Sports, and will run from 24th to 29th June 2024 under the theme: “Young innovations transforming agriculture for national prosperity at the Source of the Nile Show Grounds in Jinja City.
