Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation Venomuinjo Kauaria said the agricultural sector in Namibia is often marked by high levels of insecurity making it an undesirable profession, especially for the youth.
Kauaria made the statement during the official inauguration of the Rundu Vocational Training Centre’s Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) campus here on Tuesday.
“Agriculture is disappointingly a fall-back option rather than a prime vocation to which young people gravitate out of personal interest or passion,” she said.
The deputy minister said it is time to change this perception and time to spread the word that TVET is possibly the most reliable pathway to an interesting and rewarding career.
Agriculture she said, needs to be recast as a profession within which there is scope for innovation and for the application of new technology.
She said there is evidence that if agriculture can be represented as a site of innovation it may become far more attractive to the youth including youth with high levels of formal education.
Namibia Training Authority General Manager for TVET Regulations, Tobias Nambala said the campus which was constructed in 2019 is supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) ProVET project.
Nambala said since its implementation the number of Agri-TVET trainees at the Rundu Vocational Training Centre and the Zambezi increased from 70 to 214 in 2020.
“Of further significance is that we already have our first batch of graduates ready to enter the job market. Eighty-one graduates successfully moved from level 2 to level 3 and are the very first cohorts of agriculture artisans,” he said.
Nambala said the two centres (Rundu and Zambezi) in concert with industry role-players participated in the development of relevant agriculture technical qualifications and training programmes.
Technical advisors, he said rendered mentoring support in preparing and positioning them for full implementation.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
