In the third and final part of this blog series, we will highlight the success of changing the approach to create opportunities for youth in agriculture. After the challenges highlighted in the second part of this series, we tell of the success of a tweaked approach that has enabled youth to actively take up seedling propagation as an economic opportunity.
Despite the obstacles experienced in the implementation of seedling propagation, it was still considered a viable economic opportunity for the youth in the Oloitoktok region. As opposed to investing resources in youth groups who were not ready to invest their time and labour to raise seedlings, the youth inclusion team took a different approach. They decided to engage individual youths who were ready to invest their time and money to set up propagation centres but lacked the technical knowledge to do so.
32-year-old Martin Milia was the first youth to successfully take up seedling propagation. Not only was he willing to invest his time in this venture, but also availed part of the money used to set up a propagation unit. To date, he is proud of the decision he took, as he is already reaping the benefits. He narrates,
I have always loved farming but had never been actively engaged in it. However, when I lost my job in the United Arab Emirates due to Covid-19 and returned home, I decided to use part of my savings to fully venture into farming. I started off farming onions, cabbage, and carrots. It was during this moment that I realized seedlings were not easy to come by in our locality, despite the high demand from farmers. At first, I wanted to set up a seedling centre to raise seedlings for my farm, but after I heard of the interventions of Crop Care and 2SCALE, I decided to venture in seedling propagation as a business, whereby I would raise seedlings for sale to farmers in my locality.
With the support of 2SCALE and Crop Care-the Business Support Service (BSS) provider for the Neighbourhood Freshmart-2SCALE partnership, Martin set up a propagation unit on a small portion of his father’s land. He started by propagating onions and tomatoes. Surprisingly, the seedlings got buyers before they were even ready for transplanting. This motivated Martin to care for them since the market was readily waiting to buy. With this maiden harvest, Martin made profits and re-invested into the business.
Setting up the propagation unit was a tedious and time-consuming exercise. Martin thus hired two youths and one woman to aid in the setup, especially placing seeds in the seedling trays. His mother would also help care for the propagation unit if Martin was engaged with other duties.
