Young Entrepreneurs Project Launched

Posted by: lukwago J in Uganda news November 3, 2020

In an effort to attract youth into entrepreneurship, Ministry of Gender has launched Young Entrepreneurs project dubbed Yalta.

The young entrepreneurs project covers Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda will support many farmers and other agri-food sector actors to build more sustainable agri-food system.

“Yalta will address the multiple and inter-related social, economic and environmental challenges in these countries, such as the high levels of youth unemployment, low agricultural productivity, a declining status of natural resources and biodiversity, and the increasing impacts of both climate change and the COVID-19 crisis,”Richard Mugisha young entrepreneurs project coordinator said.

He explained that YALTA programme aims to support young agripreneurs to apply agro ecological principles and to co-create networks around them, in view of contributing to the increased sustainability of food systems and youth employment in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

“YALTA will facilitate various activities to help young women and men build their skills and relations in agro ecology, such as a youth mentor-ship programme, business development support, an awareness campaign, and support to youth coalitions.

Agro ecology is an integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of food and agricultural systems,”he explained.

YALTA’s programme survey was conducted in the four countries

to identify best practices, main challenges, existing financial mechanisms, relevant stakeholders and existing programmes and initiatives on the nexus of agro ecology, youth and business.

Mugisha further said using ICT in agriculture offers huge potential particularly for youth who are more apt to quickly adopt it.

“The ICT sector provides solutions to make agriculture more efficient, including digital platforms to spread knowledge, build networks and reduce farmers’ costs in market access and information gathering while increasing their profitability,” he said.

Way forward

Mugisha says Agro ecology needs to be mainstreamed in national and regional research agendas while access to finance is among the key constraints for youth.

“As improving access to loans and investments is a key condition for youth to engage in agro ecological business. Youth need to build their knowledge on funding opportunities, while financial institutions need to be flexible in their financial models in order to facilitate access to funds for youth. There should be incentives for investors in this domain, and recognition of the particular needs of youth, “he stressed.

He suggested that agro ecology

Markets should provide incentives for sustainability adding that market prices for agro ecological products need to be sufficient to cover costs made by the farmer and by other chain actors. Youth could be motivated if they could get premium prices at the ‘high end’ consumer markets.

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