THE Prime Minister said he was pleased with the attendance and participation at World Food Day celebrations at Parade Grounds, Bacolet, Wednesday. “There seems to be a rising interest in agriculture in the country, especially among young people.,” he said.

Dr Rowley said while Tobago farmers are “doing their bit, there is a whole lot more that I expect as the interest grows.

“But there is really a genuine interest in farming among the younger people. And that is what we need to encourage.”

Rowley said he has been concerned about the dwindling stock of older farmers.

“One of the problems we are having is that a lot of the older farmers have retired so there wasn’t a generation of new farmers. But I think we are getting that now.”

He said the growing interest in agriculture among young people coincides with the technological advances in the field.

‘This is allowing farming to be not just drudgery. There is a lot of high tech in farming now and they would be very impressed to see what is happening without the backbreaking type of agriculture.”

Rowley is also hoping that the Youth Agricultural Shade House Project, which was launched in September, could be replicated in Tobago.

The one-year certification programme, which caters to young people between the ages of 16 and 35, is a collaboration between the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West indies and the National Agricultural Research Extension Institute of Guyana.

It is being conducted at the Chaguaramas Development Authority Agricultural Park, Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas.

Asked what would be his advice to young people who aspire to be doctors and lawyers, Rowley said, “ Well, if all of us are lawyers and doctors, we will have a lot of hungry lawyers and doctors because the most important thing is that whatever you do for life, you need to be fed and you need quality food.”

He said if it is done properly, people can make a decent living from farming.

Rowley, who has a goat farm in Mason Hall, recalled as a child his entire family was involved in farming.

“We all had a physical role to play. But it was good because we learnt everything. So now we don’t have to do that much back breaking work.”

He said, though, the most important lesson is that an individual cannot be forced into farming.

“You have to want to be a farmer. You have to like it. Especially if you are doing animals, you can’t take days off. It is virtually an everyday job and that means you have to have a genuine interest.

“So wherever that genuine interest exists that is the first hurdle and such a person can be encouraged to do well. And I think we have great potential here .”

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