BY INDY MAEALASIA
To attract the younger generation to the agriculture sector, a transformative shift in mindset is essential. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Dr. Samson Viulu emphasized this during the opening of the Agri-Innovative Competition on Tuesday.
“We have to shift away from the mindset that agriculture is all about food production, it is not,” he remarked, “It is about making money.”
He emphasized that the business of agriculture is about “entrepreneurship, youth, and sustainability.”
Viulu noted that many young people are choosing to work in Australia and New Zealand under the labor mobility scheme, citing a lack of financial opportunities in the local agricultural sector.
“Why are they attracted to agriculture in Australia and New Zealand? why are they not interested in cultivating the land or going into agribusiness production, One totally clear answer is because there is no money in agriculture in the country,”
Viulu emphasized that injecting and making a profit in agriculture is a way of reducing the country’s reliance on foreign aid and enabling the country on generating wealth domestically.
Highlighting the Government for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT) vision for the sector, Viulu emphasized, “We want to make agriculture attractive again, we want it to be business for everyone.”
