Getting started on the land

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 41

Getting started on the land

A programme to put 1000 young farmers in Third World countries on the land within a year will be proposed at this week’s World Congress of Young Farmers at Lincoln College. The programme could have established 10,000 farmers by 1995, said the congress chairman, Mr Eric Roy, of Gore.

Most farmers in Third World nations are peasants, and the programme will seek ways of starting young people on the land in countries where there is a desperate need to grow food. About $4O to ?50 would supply a farmer with very basic tools and some knowledge of planting and pest and disease control techniques, said Mr Roy. Young Farmers can help existing aid groups to direct finance and equipment into setting up farming projects. “We are not getting on to the aid group band waggon,” he said. “Young Farmers is not a service group, but can offer advice and direction on agriculture-related schemes,” said Mr Roy. The congress has attracted about 200 participants from 40 countries. The Young Farmers movement is taking a prominent part in the Canterburyshow, with the running of a major display in CanterburyCourt.Congress delegates and other show visitors can view many sides of farming in New Zealand in the display, entitled “Opportunity in Agriculture?