Traditional farming methods won’t attract young people for very much longer. Agriculture is changing, and South Africa’s food producers are aging, paving the way for young people to be at the heart of hydroponics initiatives in the country.
These were the words of Dr. Fikile Qwabe, acting chief director of agriculture research development and training institutes at the department of agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal.
Qwabe was delivering a keynote speech on day one of the two-day hydroponics conference organized by KPR Conference and Trading Pty Ltd. The conference is being hosted under the theme “Hydroponics farming the way forward for sustainability and food security for profitability 2023”.
According to Qwabe, hydroponics as a farming method is beneficial to the province as it does not need large patches of land or a lot of water to start operations. “We have aging farmers. The only way to woo young farmers is for them to go into hydroponics farming. “There has been a growing interest in agribusiness and entrepreneurship among young people in KwaZulu-Natal, but more awareness needs to be done to bring the youth on board,” she told attendees.
Qwabe told a room filled with some of the country’s top hydroponics farming experts that while the government was availing land, markets, training, and skills development, access to technology and innovation should not be forgotten.
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