AGRICULTURE THE BACKBONE OF AFRICA
Fighting poverty by EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE
“Agriculture has a huge social and economic impact in Africa. Smallholder farmers account for more than 60% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa, and agriculture accounts for 23% of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)” (McKinsey, 2020). Yet, Africa’s full agricultural potential remains untapped. While Africa’s agricultural potential is significant, unlocking it requires practical, on-the-ground effort and innovation.
TOUCEO recognises that to unlock this potential, we must first address the archaic and colonial idea that people should pursue a “proper education to achieve white coloured jobs“. Empowerment is only possible with a changed mindset.
This could be done through training and providing practical assistance to the interested young farmers to begin producing agricultural produce at a high level. Secondly providing start-ups capital in terms of financial help for buying agricultural tools, seeds and finding a
potential market for the products will be paramount. That is why we are seeking individual partners or companies to join us in providing and developing this sector. We believe that through agriculture the cycle of poverty can be broken.
Invest In Agricultural Empowerment
Your donation will provide the tools and programs to empower youth to build up their own local community through farming.
Our Approach
Our approach in ending systemic poverty among young people is by developing their farming skills, knowledge, and competences. Our focus is on three key areas of participation.
These are: Young farmers Group (YFG), Young Farmers Cooperative (YFC), and Young Farmers Market (YFM). Click below to read in detail each of these approaches. All the funds and resources received will go towards developing these three major sectors.
The TOUCEO Young Famers Group (YFG) has a focus of providing education in the areas of crop production and animal husbandry (pigs, goats, cattle, sheep, poultry, and bee keeping). It enables youth to learn new skills in farming and share their knowledge. It is also an opportunity for those who are interested in developing farming skills
to go on educational trips to various parts of the country or abroad, with the intention to return to their local communities with enhanced skills. These activities will be developed within the community’s targeting youth who have dropped out of education but are interested in farming. We believe that the negative attitude
of the young people towards those who get into agriculture (“being a job of the poor”) can only be changed through education and empowerment. As young farmers become more knowledgeable and pick interest in agricultural activities, they can be encouraged to join the Young Farmers’ Cooperative.
Agriculture as a field continues to be knowledge intensive. New improved agricultural technologies, inputs, digital tools, technologies, and initiatives are rolled out every day to make today’s agriculture resilient, productive, and efficient.
K.B, 2021
The Need
Due to lack of technological advancement in the agricultural sector of the region, technology remains fundamental in advancing agricultural practices. To develop sustainable agricultural production, the youth must be helped and encouraged to learn and use the accessible modern technologies and digital tools for agribusinesses to flourish, and generational poverty to be overcome. However, there is a demand for innovation centres, vocational training centres and institutions which can train, assist, and meet the needs of these immerging young farmers.
How?
TOUCEO would like to create, strengthened and support youth groups to establish and manage agricultural businesses. We would like to provide training and technical assistance in agronomy, help groups to market their products and encourage members to become active in debunking the false notion that agriculture is a work for the poor.
This is where the Young Farmers Cooperative comes in to provide practical ways of putting into practice the knowledge learnt through the Young Farmers Group (YFG) [/read]
To develop this sector and empower the youth we need individuals and stakeholder who can provide expertise knowledge in this area, financial support, or donation of used machinery.
We also call for interested parties to partner with us in establishing practical agriculture training centres.
To discuss the donation of agricultural equipment please contact our UK team: admin@touceo.org
Young Farmers’ Co-operative (YFCo-op) is there to assist farmers in increasing their yields and incomes by pooling resources together to support collective service provision and economic empowerment. We operate in three areas: provision of agricultural inputs, joint production, and Young Farmers (YFM) marketing. Agricultural Input supply include the distribution of seeds and fertilizers to farmers. The joint agricultural production assume that members will operate on jointly owned agricultural
plots since the subsistence farmers own small, fragmented pieces of land. The farmers are encouraged to share land so that they can produce on large scale. This also means that the equipment provided by TOUCEO can be shared by these farmers in their production The third category consists of joint agricultural marketing of producer crops, where farmers pool resources for the transformation, packaging, distribution, and marketing of an identified agricultural commodity. We would like to support young farmers in several ways, including:
Contact us to become part of this adventure admin@touceo.org
In some parts of Africa, the most common agricultural cooperative approach has traditionally been the trading of agricultural goods once small farmers have completed their separate farm production operations. We, however, would like to integrate input distribution and produce market for all the members of the YFA.
Small-scale producers will have more opportunities. “As a means of increasing their capacity, we provide services to our members. These members can also get training in production and post-harvest techniques, as well as literacy and business and marketing classes.
With one of the most challenging issues being access to markets, the role of Young Farmers Co-op (YFCo-op) in assisting farmers in achieving economies of scale is crucial. By working together our young Farmers are able to attract traders and institutional purchasers this increases their negotiating power which means that they can sell their produce at a reasonable price.
“As long as there’s a few farmers out there, we’ll keep fighting for them.”. – Willie Nelson.
Meet The Producers
PAULTRY FARMERS
TURKY FARMERS
DUCK FARMERS
GOAT FARMERS
CATTLE FARMERS
