Agriculture expert has asked government to explore more ways of motivating the youth to participate in agriculture activities to ensure that the sector, which is the number one pillar in the Malawi’s 2063 vision, is successful.

The expert, Tamani Nkhono, said the authorities must invest more in the youth because the country’s population is dominated by them and are energetic hence likely to deliver in the sector.

The MW 2063 vision document, which was launched by President Lazarus Chakwera, highlighted the importance of Pursuing a youth centric vision citing that the population of Malawi is youthful, with 51 percent being under 18 years of age.

Nkhono said: “The challenge is that the youth are not motivated to take agriculture as a viable platform for earning a living because of the way it is presented and also lack of mentors who can change their perspective towards the sector.

“The youth must be involved in higher value chain initiatives such as processing and production in order to highly motivate them.”

He also called upon the youth to form groups where they can come up with ideas and develop proposals that can attract funding from institutions.

Nkhono cited an example of the Foundation for Irrigation and Sustainable Development (FISD), a Group Limited Company, which he said came as an idea amongst some students and now it has propelled to a big company.

He bemoaned lack of opportunity being accorded to the youth who graduate from the higher learning institutions such as LUARNA saying this force most of the graduates ending up in areas that are not related to their expertise.