DAR ES SALAAM — TANZANIA has great potential to food self-sufficiency, by producing food locally without importing from abroad if the young population is properly involved in the agricultural sector.
Speaking at the launch of the 2024 AYuTe Africa Tanzania Challenge competition in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Resident Director of Heifer Project International, Mark Tsoxo said that there are more young people in Tanzania and that today's agriculture needs manpower and innovative technology and the available resources can greatly transform the agricultural sector.
"It's not that young people don't like to participate in agriculture, young people like results more than the means to achieve results, so we need creativity to be able to attract young people to agriculture," he said.
The AYuTe Tanzania Challenge was officially launched last year by Heifer International in collaboration with Sahara Ventures to help innovative young people in agriculture get opportunities for capital, training and meeting with investors.
He emphasised that modern agriculture requires the use of technology and with the AYuTe campaign, which is an acronym for Agriculture, Youth, Technology, they want young people to help make the agricultural sector vibrant and competitive to also create jobs.
Tsoxo also said that the foundation is at the forefront of environmental protection in its activities and stressed that the purpose of the fund is to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and protect the environment.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of Sahara Ventures, Jumanne Mtambalike said that while working with the foundation they have been able to help Tanzanian youths, especially those engaging in agricultural activities by using innovative technology to bring their solutions to the market and thus create jobs.
Mtambalike said that more than 65 per cent of the jobs that come from Africa are in the agricultural sector and that the sector has contributed 32 per cent of the GDP in Africa.
"Therefore, in collaboration with the foundation, we believe that the work we are doing is very important work in empowering young people and creating those opportunities," said Mtambalike.
On his part, the Project Manager of AYuTe Challenge Tanzania, Emmanuel Senzighe, said that the winner of this year's competition will receive 28m/-, the first runner-up 21m/-, and the second runner-up 14m/-.
The AYuTe Challenge Tanzania competition was officially launched last year by the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Abdallah Ulega, who emphasised that technology can be a springboard to attract many young people to participate in agricultural activities such as breeding and fishing.
Minister Ulega encouraged the use of technology in agriculture as it is the beginning of making many young people excited about the sector
