Engaging Youth in St Vincent and The Grenadines in Agriculture: Their Fears, Expectations and Food Production Interests

Some countries in the Caribbean have initiated youth oriented projects to address their aging farming population while others are developing policies to encourage youth to pursue a career in food production. A study conducted among 109 students of agriculture (56% female:44% male) at the secondary level in St. Vincent and the Grenadines sought to determine students’ perceptions of the incentives and disincentives to pursuing a career in food production, the likelihood that they will engage in farming in the near future and their preferred areas of food production. A close ended, self reporting survey instrument was used to collect data. Results indicated that income generation, changing the nature of farming in SVG and studying agricultural science in school were the top ranked reasons for considering a future in agriculture. The highest ranked disincentives were lack of government support, the costs of starting up an enterprise and lack of local agricultural training opportunities. The majority of students (78%) indicated some likelihood to engage the sector in the near future. Strongest interest were shown for working in the Ministry of Agriculture, pursuing higher education in agriculture, and farming using new technologies such as “Greenhouses” and Agro-processing. The results suggest a generally favorable predisposition to farming by SVG youth. However, concerted efforts to put enabling policies and strategies in place to further encourage them are needed. The considerable interest shown in salaried jobs and higher education in the sector, while laudable, must be matched with a cadre of food production-oriented young persons