Youth involvement in agriculture pushed: Philippines

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There is a need to realign engagement strategies targeting the youth, particularly out-of-school youth, to get them into the agriculture sector, according to a study by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

PhilRice said there is a mismatch between the current youth engagement strategies and the reasons for straying away from the sector.

'This mismatch is likely to result in disastrous consequences given that there are major issues such as the cultural perceptions on agriculture that are not really being addressed. Nonetheless, three key advocacies appeal to young people: food security, health and wellness, and community building,' PhilRice social scientist Teresa Joi de Leon, the paper's main author, said.

She said the review of literature on the topic from 2011 to 2021 showed that the chance is high for young people to stay in agriculture if their issues with it such as employment and income will be addressed.

Analyzing 21 articles published in ProQuest and Google Scholar, De Leon and her team - Louie Gerard Orcullo and Dr. Jaime Manalo IV- concluded that the government primarily spearheads youth and agriculture initiatives, encompassing a range of programs from scholarships to community development.

Notably, engagement initiatives in the country between 2011 and 2021 appeared to be particularly prominent in Mindanao.

The team also observed that mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were used in conducting the Philippine youth and agriculture studies. However, she stressed that the out-of-school youth is underrepresented in the literature.