Opening Remarks - Rafael Moreno*
It is with pleasure that I welcome you to this Expert Consultation on Rural Youth and Young Farmers in Developing Countries. As leaders of youth programmes, you are well aware of the magnitude of the problems which face rural young men and women. We in FAO share your concern and we seek your advice and guidance in our efforts to help in the most effective and appropriate manner.
Rural Youth and Rural Development
Ladies and Gentlemen, the youth problem is recognized all over the world. The youth of today are decision makers and producers of tomorrow and they need to be prepared for this task. In this Consultation, we are concerned with rural youth - boys and girls, young men and young women. They are, in our view, a major target group of rural development programmes, for which FAO is the leading Organization.
In a world where the majority of the population in a large number of countries lives below the absolute poverty level and where hungry people are dying by the thousand every day, despite stocks of food piled in other parts of the globe, rural development programmes aimed at the alleviation of poverty in rural areas and assistance to the rural poor for improving their living conditions, become the most noble task one can undertake. FAO is committed to this task and will continue to increase its efforts in this respect.
Rural development can only be achieved through the participation of the rural people themselves- a participation which enables them to define their problems, decide on acceptable solutions and play a major role in bringing about these solutions. In other words, the rural people themselves, men and women, adults and youth, constitute the main factor in carrying out rural development programmes and successfully achieving their goals.
Rural youth are a vital and important section of the rural population. They have an important role to play in development programmes and our task is to define this role in each particular situation. But, more important, is their future role when they become adults and bear decision-making responsibilities in rural areas. Our task is to help them prepare for this responsibility.
A quick look at the situation of rural youth in the developing world is quite alarming. Rural youth are among the most vulnerable groups. Too often they have limited access to educational programmes that are convenient to attend and meaningful in content. It is not surprising that many rural young people drop out of school at an early age. The morning and afternoon walk may be long, classwork is geared towards academic accomplishment with little regard for preparation for adulthood and earning a living and, in many cases, there is a genuine need for the young person's labour on the farm and in the home. To compound the problem, young couples of child bearing age are making a conscious decision to move to the urban centres, where there are greater opportunities for employment and better educational programmes for their children. Such movement simply aggravates the problem of rural to urban migration. Not every rural young person can or should be engaged in production agriculture. Off-farm rural employment can offer much to individuals who have appropriate training and the desire to live and thrive as part of a support system within the rural community. The challenge is to take rural development in its broadest sense and create an environment for economic expansion, educational growth and the opportunity for success that is visible and attainable.
Main issues
Ladies and Gentlemen, you will have enough time in this Consultation to put forward pertinent issues for discussion, to ask relevant questions and to try to propose solutions to various aspects of the problems. However, I would like to share with you some of our preoccupations in FAO with regard to strategies, approaches and activities related to some of the main issues we are facing in our work in FAO. In my brief remarks this morning, I would like to mention three major issues:
I am sure you will agree with me that the problems are difficult and complex and have to be seriously tackled at high level by governments of the developing countries. The role of the international organization, in general, and FAO in particular, is to assist these countries in their national programmes. In this consultation, we hope to be enlightened by your experiences and creative ideas and welcome your advice on the various aspects of the rural youth problem. In particular, we seek your advice with regard to the following areas:
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me end my brief remarks by expressing our sincere confidence in your experiences and views on the vital issues at stake and our hope that the results of your deliberations and discussions will produce useful advice for the work of our Organization.
* Director, Human Resources, Institutions and Agrarian Reform Division, FAO.
