English and French are Compulsory, but Agriculture is an Option Subject in a Continent Faced with Poverty, Food Insecurity, and Malnutrition

Although agriculture is the main driver of the African economy, the sector has failed to answer Africa's biggest enemies, including poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition.?

In fact, agricultural trade only benefits a chosen few, mostly farmers who have capital and those who know how to navigate the whole food supply chain.?They know which crops are in demand, nutritious ones, where to get quality seeds and inputs, how to farm the crops, how to properly harvest and store the produce, the best means to transport their produce from farm to markets, how to add value to their produce, and they know how to keep records of everything they do and the finances.

Most of these farmers didn't learn these agricultural skills in college. Many smallholder farmers in Africa either finished primary or secondary school and started farming as a career. Some get farming knowledge from parents and friends. Lucky are the ones who pursued an agricultural subject in secondary school or college since they understand the food supply chain better than those who didn't pursue a formal agricultural subject.

Unfortunately, many African schools have foreign languages like English and French as compulsory subjects while agriculture is an option subject. Given the power agriculture holds, it should be a compulsory subject to ensure every kid understands where their food comes from and how to make correct food choices.?

Most of us still love things we used to do when young and dislike things we didn't do because we don't feel their importance. For example, if your primary or high school concentrated more on football rather than rugby, there is a high chance that you will not have an interest in rugby when you grow up. Anything you teach your kid now is also what they will teach their kids, and we need to teach the importance of agriculture at an early age. Whoever said you can't teach an old dog new tricks wasn't wrong.?

For the youths to love farming, we need to make agriculture a compulsory subject and make it interesting so the youths will embrace farming at an early age.

?The sad reality is that agriculture is still considered a venture for the poor or uneducated. There is even a street phrase in Kenya where someone will tell you "hio ni ushamba" associated with something foolish, or they dislike or mean you are not well-versed with the city lifestyle and that you have a village mentality. Shamba is a farm or plantation, and by adding "U" at the beginning, you turn farming into an insult. Totally unacceptable considering that the same city people will pay thousands of Kenyan shillings to enjoy a 5-star meal cooked with produce coming from the same farmers they disrespect. We cannot judge them since all they lack is the knowledge of how important agriculture is and that they cannot live without the farmers.

Education and agricultural policy-makers should come together and decide the future of agriculture, which should begin by making agriculture a compulsory subject. This will help mold generations that understand food systems clearly at an early age, and it may be the key to solving poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition.?

The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya is embracing agriculture for primary school kids through training in school gardens, and kids can now learn basic farming skills. We need more efforts in secondary schools to ensure the subject is compulsory since this is a missed opportunity in our efforts to achieve the SDGs. We have made agriculture so unattractive that many youths consider selling inherited land in order to buy a motorcycle to venture into the bodaboda industry. This is a sad reality across many African nations.

Since agriculture is not a compulsory subject, many students always want to be doctors, pilots, computer scientists, or any other white-collar job where you just sit behind a desk and not a profession where you will have to sweat all year in order to make a living. If we had more students interested in pursuing agricultural-related courses, agriculture would contribute more than 45% to the African GDP, whereas the sector currently contributes between 30-40%. More people would venture into farming, and that would increase our food production enough to feed the African continent and trade with other continents.

I will be heartbroken when in my 70s and hear that Africa is still fighting food insecurity and poverty 40 years from now.?

Addressing poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition requires all our efforts, young or old. It's high time we went back to the drawing board since all we have been doing over the years hasn't addressed any of these challenges.?

David McNair Dr. Conrad Rein Paul Rogé Jane Maland Cady Cedrick Baker Matthew Shakhovskoy Declan Kirrane Michael Sheldrick Mustafa Abd Ellatif Nir Bar Dea Beatriz Jacoste Lozano Micaela Iveson Dan Zook Kenneth Quinn Ke@corrinallen Edmondson Rikin Gandhi Felicia DeHaney Ricardo Tomaz Joan Garretson Jesper H?rnberg Acha Leke David Nabarro Katie Bunten-Wamaru Kristofer Hamel Kristina Roing de Nowina (AgrDr) Kris Ansin Jessica Osborn Chris Locke Inge Herbert Gunhild Sj?vik Jonathan Said Jonathan Papoulidis Phillip J Mostert ???? Reena Das Nair Victoria Kahla Zuhir Eshanta Mattijs Renden Alizée Blanchin Fernando Escribano - Saez Matthieu Vincent Gloria Carrión Marcus McGrew, MBA Ravi Kiran Malik Andreas Bluethner James Hallett Elizabeth Eckert Judd Devermont Jo Maxion Filipe Di Matteo Ricardo Zapatero Saenz, CIIA Jeff Dykstra Cees van Rij, MBA Jim Woodhill Dario Giuliani Conor Brosnan Tom Brookes Emily Cupito Ingrid Ardjosoediro British Robinson Saskia Osendarp Henrik Elschner Pedersen Travis Adkins Scott Wallace Thabile Nkunjana Greg S Garrett Ismahane Elouafi Ossian Plummer Mascha Middelbeek Paul Miller Paulin BASINGA Grant Merrick Vanessa Adams John Lamb Rod Bassett Daniel Skavén Ruben AGNES KALIBATA Martin Segal Ertharin Cousin Michael Shaw William Fanjoy Malcolm Burrows Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation AGRA The World Bank International Monetary Fund Nick Austin Henry Kaestner Neil Carter GAICD Stephen Gray David Hunt David Hughes Monique Amar Martha Byanyima J David Miller Zo? Karl-Waithaka Hugh Evans Mark-Anthony Johnson Sara Roversi Sarah Christiansen Lucy Wallace Matin Qaim Ben Hertz-Shargel María Mendiluce Chris Humphrey Nico Janssen Don Tomoff, MBA Rishi Bhattacharya Anna Lappé Tonya Allen Ian Isherwood Madelon Pfeiffer Erik Granskog Pierre-Marie Aubert Christina Stuart Revi Sterling David Pahl Lauren Baker Tom Adams Oliver Rothschild Rachel Owens Nicolas Franchinard Nicolai Tangen Magdalena Skipper Simon Winter Juan Pablo Solís Víquez Nicole Parisis Chris Hegadorn Sid Mehta Andreas Sieber Hans von Zinkernagel Benjamin Krause Anne Elliott Sheila Komen Keino