Government has been advised to support and encourage urban farming among the youth If its to fight unemployment in urban youth.
Laban Musinguzi the Chief Executive officer, Agrofresh Uganda said government needs to interest itself and encourage the youth living in urban areas to carry out urban type of farming which is space and cost friendly.
“Government should interest and engage itself in the promotion of urban farming among the youth, its cost friendly and easy to start, you just need to have some simple skills, and a small piece of land, if the youth are encouraged to take part, believe me, unemployment in urban areas shall decrease,” he said.
Musinguzi added, “government can partner with companies like Agrofresh to provide these skills to the youth, with support from partners like Bank of Uganda, Post bank and UN SDGs, we are a running project, Youth Empowerment and Development in Commercial Agriculture, (YEDCA) where we are imparting them (youth) with urban farming and financial skills.”
He noted that government also needs to make access to capital easier since most youths do not have collaterals like land among others.
Musinguzi made the remarks at an agricultural exhibition that was held at Millennial Farmers Point in Kira Wakiso District. The exhibition was organized with actual intentions of bringing together sector players dealing in agricultural fresh produce, Machinery and Inputs to showcase their products.
He revealed that most urban farmers dealing in fresh produce are facing high post-harvest losses, caused by lack of temperature regulated stores/coolers and freezer tracks which would help keep the produce fresh.
“If government can help us with freezer trucks, temperature regulated stores, we shall minimize the post-harvest losses, you see, you can invest 100,000 but over 30000 will be loses due to the short shelf life,” Musinguzi noted.
Raymond Mugisha the Manager Millennial Farmers Point thanked Agrofresh for the collaboration, which helped provide farmers with space and market for their products.
