By Umar Nsubuga
The youth had better embrace agriculture because of the emerging new challenges such as the increasing population, hunger, climate change and unemployment, according to Dr. Jover Byarugaba, the proprietor of Ebenezer schools.
To interest the youth in agriculture, Ebenezar schools have an initiative dubbed, the Youth Future Farmers of Uganda, aimed at promoting agriculture among the youth.
The initiative that seeks to increase agriculture production to meet the food demand in schools was launched after the COVID-19 period.
“Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and we have to engage the young people at the right time. When young people learn these skills, they will put them in practice in future,” Dr Byarugaba says.
How students are engaged
When a student is admitted at Ebenezar School, he or she has to engage in one of the various agricultural enterprises at the school.
Senior Ones deal in horticulture while Senior Two, Three and Five operate bigger gardens and earn from them. Other enterprises include dairy farming, poultry farming, rabbit farming, and piggery farming.
“It is strategic, Senior Two act as examples to Senior Ones, and Senior Fives are leaders who must show the young ones the good and the bad,” Byarugaba says.
Students are also taught how to milk cows, dehorn, to make silage, among other dairy practices.
Agriculture is part of the syllabus, and the school uses the farm for practical work, although students are not graded on how they manage the enterprises.
“Agriculture is practical; children need to see, so that they can learn and act. Taking them to the farm is better than keeping them in class,” Byarugaba says.
Importance of agriculture
Byarugaba explains that to have better leaders who will understand the people they lead in future, agriculture must be promoted.
She says even other schools need to put this into consideration.
“We are training future leaders who will go back in the community and be able to understand the importance of agriculture and make strides to improve it,” Byarugaba says.
She also says they are undertaking farming as a way of skilling the learners for future self-employment.
“Unemployment is very high in the country, yet we have very big pieces of land that are not utilised because our youth are not practising agriculture. But with such an initiative, we can skill our youth and interest them in farming,” Byarugaba says.
Students earning from farming
When the crops are harvested and sold, the student gets 50% of the money and the school retains the other half for maintenance of the farm.
The products are sold to the school, parents and neighbouring communities as well as other schools.
“Through this arrangement, the students get to learn that you can earn money from agriculture. It is no longer seen as a punishment here at Gayaza and that is the same thing we want other schools to be doing,” Byarugaba says.
