LETTER | Young farmers and the future of sustainable agriculture

LETTER | Human resources in the agricultural sector have an important role in building sustainable agriculture because it requires technical skills and innovations as the trend changes and technology advances.

Nowadays, many agricultural activists around the world are focusing on agricultural development through the concept of sustainable agriculture. This is essentially a system of developing agriculture through optimal management of all potential resources - both natural and human - institutions, and technology. The goal is to continue agricultural activities without damaging the environment in order to improve community welfare.

Therefore, the quality of human resources committed to building the agricultural sector is one of the important factors to successfully develop sustainable agriculture.

The number of people working in the agricultural sector is dominated by elderly people aged above 50. This trend, coupled with the declining interest of young people to work in the agricultural sector, is faced by many countries in Asia and Europe. This is inversely proportional to the existing phenomenon where the number of youths or fresh graduates who are interested in working in the non-agricultural sector is increasing from time to time.

There are various reasons for the decline in the interest of young workers in the agricultural sector. The main factor is the common perception that the agricultural sector is less prestigious and less able to provide adequate compensation.

Another reason is that the life of young workers has changed in this modern era, where most of them would like to seek office jobs.

Considering this phenomenon, it appears that the sustainability of the agricultural sector will continue to decline if the younger generation is not involved in its development. Young farmers are needed to contribute to the sustainability of the agricultural sector in the form of regeneration, innovation, and expertise in technology.

Youths have much greater physical energy and abilities than elderly farmers. In addition, young people usually have creative ideas because they usually follow current trends in the market or society.

With the involvement of youths, it will give a positive impact on the agricultural sector in terms of developing a more attractive, effective, and creative agriculture.

Innovation is usually also related to expertise in technology. The use of technology will lead to job efficiency in agriculture. In other words, the agricultural sector will optimise the agricultural output with a more effective and efficient system by adopting innovations in technology.

The regeneration of the farming sector is vital and as such, we need to engage more young farmers in order to support sustainable agricultural programmes and food security programmes.

There are several measures that can be considered in order to attract young people to the agricultural sector, including emphasising the profitability of agricultural businesses, alongside job comfort and satisfaction.

Some strategies can be formulated to highlight the fact that farming is an attractive and promising sector if it is managed diligently and seriously, using the tools of technological innovation, coupled with incentives, and training of young farmers. More importantly, agriculture should be introduced to the younger generation from an early age.

I know this is not easy, but if everyone - government, students, and activists - collaborate together, we can get more young people to roll up their sleeves and take to the fields to achieve the goal of sustainable agriculture.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.