Speech by Honourable Minister, Senzeni Zokwana (MP) at the launch of the Youth Month Programme in Cape Town
“Youth moving South Africa forward”
Programme Director, our youth, soccer lovers, our soccer stars, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen. We know that our government declared 16 June as the National Youth Day and June as the Youth Month. This year we are celebrating the National Youth Day and the Youth Month under the theme: “Youth moving South Africa forward”. The Deputy Minister, General Bheki Cele and I will be leading different youth activities in the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors in the country, to mark this important milestone in our history. The youth of today must be at the forefront of societal conversations in dealing with socio-economic challenges. Government is convinced that young people will play a key role in transforming society in the third decade of freedom. The youth are at the heart of the National Development Plan, our collective blueprint for a society in which all South Africans will flourish. The inherent potential in young people can be the catalyst for social change and economic emancipation. With the country’s youth unemployment figure increasing at this alarming rate, the South African government has committed to invest in its youth at the centre of the socio-economic transformation.
As we launch the Youth Month Programme in the sector, all our efforts are concerted to three main focus areas—production, nutrition and education. For this media launch, my focus is on the initiatives of the department on skills development. The priority of youth education has prompted the department to develop two sets of strategies in the previous year to address this challenge, i.e., National Education and Training Strategy for Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, 2015 and the Career Awareness Strategy.
The purpose of these strategies is among others, to create a pool of researchers, scientists, skilled professionals and technicians in areas regarded as scarce and critical within the sector. As such, the National Education and Training Strategy for Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, 2015 provides an annotated framework for guiding education and training for agriculture, forestry and fisheries in a manner that is consistent and coherent and aligned with the National Development Plan and other key polices. At the centre of this strategy is a list of scarce and critical skills like Veterinary Science, Bio-resource (Agricultural) Engineering, Plant Pathology, Soil Science, Entomology, Agronomy, Food Science and Technology and Viticulture to mention a few.
In order to realise the dream of eliminating skewed participation in the sector and bridging the skills gap, the department has, since 2004, introduced an External Bursary Scheme and Career Awareness Programmes. The programme targets young people in the sector with good grades in Mathematics and Physical Science who wish to pursue careers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
The DAFF Career Awareness Strategy proposes a number of initiatives in support of exposing young people to existing youth-owned and/ or managed enterprises, role modelling programmes, showcasing and competitions. While most of the world’s food is produced by ageing smallholder farmers in developing countries, older farmers are less likely to adopt the new technologies needed to sustainably increase agricultural productivity, and ultimately feed the growing world population while protecting the environment. Therefore, we need to re-engage youth in agriculture.
The programme is further used as a vehicle to eliminate the negative perception of the schoolgoing youth towards agriculture and forestry and to raise the profile of fisheries, especially among inland schools. Since inception in 2004, 277 learners benefited from the programme and 59 successfully completed their qualifications.
One other programme that DAFF has implemented since 2004 in responding to government’s call of bridging the skills gap is the Experiential Training, Internship and Professional Development Programme, which consists of the following pillars:
Conventional: It targets qualified, unemployed graduates who need practical hands-on experience to enhance their chances of employability and students who require practical experience as a requirement for obtaining their qualifications.
Entrepreneurship Development Programme: This targets youth already involved in business or qualified, unemployed graduates with an entrepreneurial urge and vision to follow a career in business. The programme places the youth in various companies/agribusinesses to acquire requisite knowledge and expertise in the area of business.
Young Professionals Development Programme: Targets young graduates in possession of requisite Bachelor’s degree or postgraduate qualification in agriculture, forestry, fisheries or Natural Science who would like to further their studies at Honours, Masters and Ph.D. level in the area of research leading to innovation in the critical scarce skills in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Agri Export Technologists Programme: This is an incubator programme targeting young people with the urge and vision to become Agri Export Technologists in the export industry. Successful applicants are placed within the regions of the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) for practical hands-on experience while registered for the National Certificate: Perishable Produce Export.
The total number of young people who benefited since the inception of the programme in 2004, under various pillars, is 2 274. As per pillars of the programme, 1 568 were conventional interns, 217 participated in the Young Professionals Development Programme, 238 participated in the Agri Export Technologists Programme and 226 participated in the Entrepreneurial Management Development Programme with success stories of 13 youth owning their own businesses.
Of this total, 631 successfully secured employment and are contributing to the economy of the country in government, state-owned entities and the private sector. DAFF appointed 220, other government departments appointed 152 while 259 were appointed by the private sector.
We need to respond collectively to the socio-economic conditions which affect our sector. Let us join hands and resources to leave a legacy worth remembering by these young people.
As part of celebrating the youth Month, the department will be having the following activities:
- Tomorrow at 10:00, I will be meeting with the leadership and the journalists of Landbouweekblad at the Naspers offices here in Cape Town.
- On 5 June at 09:00, the Deputy Minister will be meeting the youth in Midlands, KwaZulu-Natal.
- On 8 June at 10:00, I will be addressing the youth in ocean economy here in Cape Town.
- On 13 June at 10:00, the Santos Football Club and I will be meeting the youth at the Tsolo Agricultural College in the Eastern Cape.
- On 15 June at lunch time, the Deputy Minister will engage the youth on a live radio programme, which will be broadcast on Umhlobo Wenene.
Other activities and dates will be published in the middle of this month. Programme Director, “Youth moving South Africa forward”.
I thank you.
