KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition spokesman on Agriculture Dr Dayton Campbell has expressed concern about the number of young people involved in agriculture.

Campbell, who was making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives this afternoon, said the country’s brightest and best young people must become involved in the field.

“I believe we should make agriculture a mandatory subject in schools up to the CSEC level. Reason being, there are so many subjects that we have that are mandatory but yet still when these persons leave school, they go to farming.

“We should ensure that tertiary facilities expand their offerings and market these programmes so that more persons are aware of this potentially lucrative career that agriculture offers. We must continue to support the young persons who choose agriculture as done through the AGRO Investment Corporation in providing parcels of land to young persons and support them in their agricultural career,” Campbell told the House.

He said agriculture is the greatest employer of labour in the country, employing over 200,000 small farmers and approximately 100,000 unregistered.

“It is [a] fact that our young people are not attracted to the discipline as we would want or expect. We need to inculcate in their minds the importance of agriculture as a viable means of lifting them from abject poverty and establishing that there is honour in hard work,” he said.

Campbell insisted that too many young people are either unemployed or underemployed, and stated that this is a “recipe for disaster”. Agriculture, he said, is a solution.

At the same time, the Opposition spokesman outlined that the average age of the Jamaican farmer is 37 years, which has steadily decrease from 57.5 in 2006.

He suggested that young people shy away from agriculture for several reasons including: the perception that it yields little financial returns; it consists of intense manual work with limited benefits; it involves limited or no application of technology; and the perception that their peers would not be in favour of them pursuing careers in agriculture.

“By engaging our best and brightest youth in farming, we can generate a lot of revenue,” he said.